Rawat declared that he would wait for his innocence to be proven in order to run for the upcoming elections.

Rawat told PTI, "An edited video of me is being made viral, this is done by those who themselves have been isolated and sidelined in politics."

Further he accused people of being jealous of his candidacy announcement, said, "they could not tolerate the fact of me getting ticket again."

"The video has been created using Deepfake AI technology. My face has been superimposed on an old video of someone," he added.

In a post on X in Hindi, Rawat said, "An fake video of mine generated by deepfake AI technology is being made viral, for which I have lodged an FIR."

He said he has requested the party president to get it investigated.

"I will not contest any election in public life until I am proven innocent," the first-time MP said.

The BJP revealed its initial list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls on March 2, featuring 195 names, including 34 ministers.