Bihar Election: Loudspeakers Are Out. AI’s In.

August 30, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

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In Bihar’s high-stakes election, AI has emerged as the newest campaign worker—scaling messages faster than rules can catch up. Read on!

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It’s viral: A letter claiming to show the United Kingdom's Home Office acknowledged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) did not take part in any "anti-British movement between 1925 and 1947". 

Fact: It’s a fake letter riddled with discrepancies.

What BOOM found

  1. Wrong department name: The letter is on the letterhead of the“British Home Department,” but no such department exists. The UK's Home Office was established in 1782. 

  2. Incorrect emblem and motto: The viral document shows the UK Royal Coat of Arms with a lion and horse, instead of the lion and unicorn. The Home Office, however, uses its own distinct insignia. Also, the Royal Coat of Arms features the motto “Dieu et mon droit” (French for “God and my right”). The emblem in the viral letter is wrongly shortened to “Dieu Droit”. 

  3. No record in the National Archives: A search of the UK National Archives, which maintains official government correspondence and records, did not show any such document. Additionally, we did not find any credible reporting of such a communication by the UK Home Office on the RSS in 1978, as the viral image claims. The National Archives Press Office did not answer BOOM’s specific query about the authenticity of the letter and directed us to do an online search within the archives, instead.

DECODE

Loudspeakers To Language Models: Bihar’s New Campaign Worker Is AI

Rahul, 35, a senior consultant on Janata Dal (United)’s social media team, spends much of his day checking Facebook and Instagram insights. The numbers tell him how voters are responding to the party’s election campaign videos: Chacha Chaudhary and his trusty sidekick Sabu drifting past flyovers and freshly laid roads in Patna. 

In these clips made using Artificial Intelligence (AI), the comic book heroes are celebrating Nitish Kumar’s governance.

The idea, Rahul explained, was born during the team’s daily brainstorming sessions. “We created around 16–17 videos in the Chacha Chaudhary series, each showcasing a different aspect of Bihar’s development,” he said. “The way AI has evolved, we can now represent what we imagine in a graphic format,” Rahul said. 

Bihar has never lacked spectacle. But this time, comics to caricatures, WhatsApp forwards to videos, political parties have the same realisation: Bihar 2025 is the state’s first AI-driven election. Hera Rizwan & Shefali Srivastava report.

SCAM CHECK

When What You See Isn’t Real: Beware of Deepfake Scams

AI is getting more sophisticated, and so are scammers. With just a short clip from a social media video or voicemail, criminals can now duplicate faces and clone voices, and then use them to trick you. 

Scary scenarios scammers create 

  • “Family emergency” calls: A cloned voice of your child or relative begs for urgent money for bail, ransom, or medical bills. Unlike fake emails or links, this direct interaction over the phone creates emotional pressure, making victims feel greater urgency. 

  • Executive fraud: A fake voice or video of a company leader instructs staff to wire funds immediately. 

  • Tech support: Scammers contact their victims as trusted company executives, saying that their mobile device or computer has been compromised. The scammer then instructs the victim to install remote access software, through which they can extract sensitive data.

So, how to stay safe? Read Titha Ghosh’s article to find out.

'FAKE NEWS’ YOU ALMOST FELL FOR

🔍 A viral graphic falsely claimed Rahul Gandhi said children in Bihar told him their names were cut from the voter list during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Read 🔗 Anmol Alphonso’s ↗️ fact-check.

🔍 Did Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi accuse the government of blocking action during Operation Sindoor, which resulted in losses to the Indian Air Force? Find out in 🔗 Srijit Das’ ↗️  fact-check.

🔍 A digitally altered video was shared falsely claiming that India’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Anil Chauhan described Pakistan’s Army as superior and more advanced during Operation Sindoor. 🔗 Anmol Alphonso ↗️ found out the truth.

🅱️ RECOMMENDS

This week's recommendation is: Weaponized storytelling: How AI is helping researchers sniff out disinformation campaigns

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Verified By Boom is written by Divya Chandra, edited by Adrija Bose and designed by H Shiva Roy Chowdhury.

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