On 30th October, many Congress leaders and pro-Congress handles on social media posted a campaign for Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, claiming actor Kartik Aaryan has extended his support for the party. In the video, it was shown that at one point, Kartik said, “Main bhi to Congressi hun”. However, the video turned out to be fake.
Kartik, who was born and raised in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, clarified in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the video was originally a Disney+ Hostar campaign for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. It looks like a Congress supporter or the party edited the footage and used it for political gains. In a post, Kartik posted the original campaign and wrote, “This is the READ AD. Rest all is Fake.” He also tagged Disney+ Hotstar in the post. The channel has not released any official statement.
Fake voiceover and Congress campaign slides added to video to project it as Congress campaign
The original campaign talks about the ICC Cricket World Cup being streamed for free on Disney+ Hotstar. However, the edited version of the video not only added campaign material in the video but also voiceover-ed the artists acting in the campaign with fake voices. At one point where Kartik says “Freddy main hi hun” to the female artist in the ad, the voiceover replaced the dialogue with “Arre main bhi to Congressi hun”. The edited ad has slides of promises announced by Congress for the MP elections.
Congress supporters and leaders published fake video
National spokesperson of Indian Youth Congress and in-charge of UT J&K Aabid Mir Magami wrote, “Bollywood actor Kartik Aryan extended his support for congress in Madhya Pradesh. Congress is coming to Madhya Pradesh.”
Congress supporter Shantanu, who often shares fake posts, wrote, “Bollywood actor Kartik Aryan extends his support to Congress and Kamalnath Ji in Madhya Pradesh assembly election.” He used a now-deleted video published by an X user, SatyamInsights, who is a Congress supporter.
Quoting Kartik’s clarification post, Satyam wrote, “Kartik Bhai bhi MP me Congress ko vote denge tabhi raat me clarification diya koi dekh na paaye (Kartik will vote for Congress in MP. That is why he posted clarification at night so that no one notices it”).
Congress supporter Ravinder Kapoor wrote, “Finally Bollywood has woken up towards the Indian National Congress. Bollywood heartthrob Kartik Aryan has extended his support for Indian National Congress in #MadhyaPradeshElections2023. Yet another great campaign from INC MP.”
Quoting Kapur, Congress supporter Nazia Majid wrote, “ABSOLUTELY 100 per cent. This move by Kartik Aryan will inspire the new generation of actors in Bollywood who are educated to support CONGRESS. Kartik Aryan is an engineer and one of the few educated guys around hence he understands what CONGRESS is all about and what is good for our nation.”
Voting for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Elections is scheduled for 17th November. The results will be announced on 3rd December.