BJP's Barabanki candidate Upendra Singh Rawat drops out of Lok Sabha polls amid 'obscene video' row

Lucknow: After Bhojpuri singer Pawan Singh recusing himself from contesting in Asansol's LS polls, BJP-sitting MP from the Barabanki Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, Upendra Singh Rawat, has also opted out of the contest on Monday.

Rawat, who had been renominated by the saffron party, is currently dealing with an ''obscene video'' purportedly featuring him, that went viral on social media platforms.

Rawat has termed the video as 'fake' and claimed that it had been doctored with the help of AI (artificial intelligence) and asked the police to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.

A case was also lodged by Rawat's representative with the district police in this regard.

"An edited video of mine has been made viral....it was generated by Deepfake AI technique... I have lodged an FIR... I have requested the party's national president to get the matter investigated and I have decided not to contest any election until I prove my innocence," Rawat said in a post on 'X' (formerly Twitter).

Two videos purportedly showing Rawat had gone viral on social media on Sunday. Both the videos are said to be around two years old. Police said that they were investigating the matter.

Earlier Bhojpuri singer Pawan Singh, who was nominated by the BJP from Asansol LS seat in West Bengal, had also opted out of the contest allegedly after he came under attack for 'objectifying' women in his songs.

Taking potshots at the BJP, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav said that the saffron party leaders were opting out of the electoral contest even after being given tickets by the BJP.

''BJP was never so weak... some BJP leaders backed out of the electoral contest before being given tickets while some others opted out out after they were nominated... even the BJP leaders are saying that they don't want BJP,'' Akhilesh said.