BJP Demands EC Action Over Congress Spreading Misinformation via Morphed Amit Shah Video

BJP urges EC to take action against Cong over circulation of Amit Shah's morphed video

The BJP on Monday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against the Congress, alleging that it circulated a "deep fake and morphed" video of Home Minister Amit Shah to derail the poll process, and demanded strict action against the party.

A BJP delegation comprising Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and the party's national media department in-charge Anil Baluni also complained against the Trinamool Congress (TMC), alleging that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led party has been using violence as a weapon against the BJP leaders and workers.

It demanded that the poll panel take action against the TMC and "effective steps" to ensure a free and fair election in the state.

"The Congress wants to derail the entire election process through a deep fake and morphed video (of Amit Shah). We raised a complaint before the Election Commission today against it. The Congress has tried to create confusion among people by posting a deep fake video from its official handle," Vaishnaw told reporters after meeting the poll panel officials.

"We requested the Election Commission to take strict action," he added.

The Special Cell of the Delhi Police had on Sunday registered an FIR after the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), which is under the Ministry of Home Affairs, filed a complaint about the doctored video of Shah where his statements indicating a commitment to abolish quota for Muslims on religious ground in Telangana were changed to make it seem that he was advocating scrapping of all reservations.

Delhi Police has asked Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to join its probe on May 1 and four other members of the Telangana Congress who posted the video on X.

In a memorandum to the EC, the BJP noted that the ongoing elections have witnessed an alarming rise in the use of deep fakes and mutilation of information via social media platforms and also cited some videos including those of Bollywood actors Ranveer Singh and Amir Khan as examples of "some of the fairly recent instances of deepfakes".

It alleged that Samajwadi Party general secretary Lalji Verma has "repeatedly" posted manipulated content on social media in the recent past and said that Indian Youth Congress president Srinivas BV had also posted a "doctored" video of BJP MP Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua in which he was heard making some derogatory remarks.

The BJP urged the Election Commission to direct social media platforms such as 'X', Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and others to enhance their monitoring mechanisms to detect and promptly remove deep fake content related to the electoral process.

"It is imperative to introduce stringent guidelines for social media platforms to block accounts that engage in creating and spreading misinformation, manipulated content and deep fakes," the party said, adding, "Social media platforms should be asked to block the accounts of individuals who post deep fake content." In a separate memorandum to the Election Commission on this issue, the BJP alleged that Supriya Srinate, head of the Congress' social media department, has been "deliberately" using children to make videos and post them on social media to carry forward her party's ''propaganda to mislead the voters''.

Providing a link to the latest video, titled 'Hello Modi Uncle', posted by the Congress spokesperson on X, the BJP alleged, "This is not the first time that the Congress and Supriya Shrinate have indulged in violation of the model code of conduct and used innocent children for political purpose during electioneering.'' "She has previously used objectionable photographs of an innocent minor girl displaying a political banner deriding Prime Minister Narendra Modi," the BJP charged and urged the poll panel to order the removal of the "objectionable" content posted by Shrinate and also suspend her social media handles until the polls are over.

"Take exemplary action against Supriya Shrinate and the Congress for breach of model code of conduct and other applicable laws of the land….Order filing of an FIR against Shrinate under relevant provisions," the BJP demanded.

Speaking to reporters, Baluni alleged that the Congress has been continuously violating the model code of conduct and the Election Commission's directions, and using children in its poll campaigns by posting their pictures and videos on social media.

"This is being done through their (Congress') official social media accounts. We have requested the Election Commission to stop this and also take strict action," he told reporters after a meeting with the poll panel officials.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)