appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Bibek Bhandari

A video showing three of Nepal’s most recognisable political figures walking side by side set social media abuzz late last year, stirring widespread speculation that a new political alliance was taking shape ahead of a looming national election.
But there was a catch: the meeting depicted never took place.
The clip, depicting Rastriya Swatantra Party leader Rabi Lamichhane, Kathmandu’s former mayor Balendra Shah and ex-power sector chief Kulman Ghising, was a fabrication – one of a growing number of videos generated using artificial intelligence that are now flooding Nepal’s online political space in the run-up to a snap poll on March 5.
The election comes just six months after a bloody, youth-led anti-corruption uprising ousted former prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli, leaving the country’s political establishment reeling and public trust in institutions badly shaken.

In recent months, a torrent of AI-generated videos, audio clips, images and even songs has swept across Nepal’s social media platforms, much of it misleading and some entirely false.
Analysts and digital rights advocates warn that the deluge is muddying public discourse just weeks before the vote.
The danger is particularly acute in Nepal, where digital literacy – encompassing the skills needed to spot deepfakes and filter out misinformation online – stands at around 31 per cent and social networks have become the main arena for political debate, especially among younger voters disillusioned by decades of unstable governance.
“Generative AI is easy, cheap and accessible, and people are using it as a way to engage with candidates and fellow supporters,” said Thukten Lama of the non-profit Accountability Lab Nepal, which co-publishes an election-related newsletter with Digital Rights Nepal.
“Political parties have been using it, but their supporters seem to be using the technology more,” he told This Week in Asia.
Much of the AI-produced material circulates before any official announcements, fuelling speculation about political deals or alliances – and sometimes persisting even after official denials.
The viral video showing Lamichhane, Shah and Ghising walking together was interpreted as proof of a new political bloc emerging outside Nepal’s long-dominant parties.
Weeks later, another widely shared fake clip appeared to show Lamichhane kicking Ghising after an alleged rift. Lamichhane and Shah, meanwhile, did ultimately form a political alliance.

Other fabricated videos have been even more explosive, from a supposed fist-fight between ex-prime minister Oli and Nepali Communist Party coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal to footage depicting Dahal being arrested.
In another instance, altered footage from a news conference made senior communist leader Pradeep Gyawali appear to cry on camera.
Such videos have captivated audiences across social media platforms and reinforced a growing backlash against political elites. Yet analysts warn they are also deepening public cynicism and spreading falsehoods at scale.
“People who don’t know much about AI will believe such videos to be real,” said Darshan Parajuli, an executive committee member of the AI Association of Nepal, which works to raise public awareness about artificial intelligence.
“There’s a huge risk that such content could spread misinformation and disinformation as the election nears. It might also influence voter behaviour.”


Digital distortions
Nepal’s struggles mirror similar trends across Asia since generative AI tools became widely available.
During India’s general election in 2024, deepfakes and doctored videos flooded social media, including clips of deceased politicians endorsing candidates.
In Indonesia that same year, election campaigns deployed AI to make candidates look more youthful and digitally appealing. Reports of manipulated video and cloned audio also surfaced in Singapore, South Korea and the Philippines during last year’s polls.
AI-generated content can distort perceptions of popularity and strength, shaping voter behaviour or suppressing participation, according to Karryl Kim Sagun Trajano, a research fellow at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University who co-wrote a commentary on the use of AI in elections in 2024.
“Such content blurs the distinction between legitimate political communication and deception, complicating voters’ ability to assess credibility,” she told This Week in Asia.

In Nepal, political parties themselves have begun adopting AI to manage narratives. Lama said that leaders from Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) had used AI-enhanced images to enlarge the crowd at the party’s convention in December, in a digital bid to project strength as newer parties challenged its traditional dominance.
While many Nepalis still treat AI-driven political content as light entertainment, analysts caution that its normalisation could carry lasting consequences.
“Over time, it can erode shared standards of truth in political discourse,” Trajano said. “AI-generated content may weaken elections by undermining confidence in the integrity of political communication itself.”
These “deceptive uses of AI may offer short-term tactical advantages”, she said, but they also “carry reputational and regulatory risks that can ultimately undermine political legitimacy”.
Still, Trajano noted that the technology could also be harnessed responsibly to improve translations, expand voter outreach and rapidly counter false claims, for example.
Lama agreed about the need for public education but warned that Nepal might not have time to mount a nationwide awareness campaign before the vote in March.

Some media outlets and volunteer fact-checkers were already working to verify AI-generated content, but he said tackling misinformation would require coordinated action across institutions.
For the first time, Nepal’s Election Commission has banned the use of AI to create any false or deceptive material, including deepfakes, ahead of this year’s poll.
Commission spokesman Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said Meta and TikTok had pledged to tackle election-related misinformation, adding that authorities were pushing other platforms to follow suit.
The police’s cyber bureau is also preparing to monitor misleading content across platforms.
But enforcement may prove difficult. Even highly digitalised states like Singapore have struggled to stem AI-based disinformation despite a law prohibiting deepfakes.
“Banning AI in the election code of conduct is a step in the right direction, but the Election Commission doesn’t have the mechanisms to control or stop it,” Parajuli said.
“How will it track and monitor such content, and remove AI-generated misinformation and disinformation? I don’t think we have a plan for that.”


Young Nepalis battle climate dread in wake of flood disaster

Singaporean climber dies on Nepal’s Mount Manaslu, first foreign casualty of season

What the China-Nepal floods teach us about crisis communication

‘I feel good’: Nepal flood survivor recalls 10 days trapped in a hydropower tunnel

Nepal

Viral lies: AI deepfakes hijack reality in Nepal’s election run-up

A still from an AI-generated video recreated from a news conference shows communist leader Pradeep Gyawali crying. Photo: Handout

Balendra Shah, former mayor of Kathmandu, attends an election campaign alongside Rabi Lamichhane, president of Rastriya Swatantra Party, in Janakpur, Nepal, on Monday. Photo: Reuters

A still from an AI-generated video shows former president of the Nepali Congress party Sher Bahadur Deuba taking a fall as he follows ex-prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli. Photo: Handout

An AI-generated photo of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) general convention created using Google’s AI assistant Gemini, which was widely shared by party leaders and supporters to show large crowds. Photo: Handout

Poll officials register people’s names in the voter list at the district election office in Lalitpur in November 2025, ahead of Nepal’s parliamentary elections. Photo: AFP

Nepal probes illegal matchmaking as China cautions citizens over ‘bride buying’

Thamel, a commercial neighbourhood in Kathmandu, Nepal, is a hub for tourism in the capital. Photo: Shutterstock

A screenshot of a video on Weibo by a Chinese tourist reveals bumping into many Chinese men on the streets of Kathmandu seeking  Nepali brides. Photo: Handout

Nepal rolls out tourist tracking system to keep tabs on foreigners after protest delays

A tourist admires the view of Mount Everest from Kala Patthar, Nepal. Photo: Shutterstock

Foreign tourists walk past businesses in the town of Namche Bazaar, Nepal, in 2023. Photo: AFP

Smoke billows from the burning Hilton Kathmandu on September 10, a day after the luxury hotel was set ablaze amid nationwide protest in Nepal. Photo: AFP

Tourists and locals walk around Patan Durbar Square in historic Lalitpur, Nepal. Photo: Shutterstock

Nepal’s protest arson leaves a trail of burning questions: ‘it’s suspicious’

Fires rage in the Singha Durbar, the Nepalese government’s main administrative building, in Kathmandu on September 9. Photo: AFP

Court personnel gather under makeshift tents beside heaps of charred vehicles at the torched Supreme Court premises in Kathmandu on September 14. Photo: AFP

Smoke billows from the Hilton Kathmandu on September 10, a day after it was set ablaze by protesters. Photo: AFP

A protester throws a photograph of Nepal’s then prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli in a fire at the Singha Durbar complex in Kathmandu on September 9. Photo: AP

The torched Kathmandu District Court building seen on September 10. Photo: AFP

A protester carrying Nepal’s national flag walks away from a burning police station in Kathmandu on September 9. Photo: AP

This Week in Asia

Politics

News

Asia

South Asia

From fake fist-fights to made-up arrests, AI-generated clips are confusing voters in a nation where just 31 per cent are digitally literate


From fake fist-fights to made-up arrests, AI-generated clips are confusing voters in a nation where just 31 per cent are digitally literate.


Singapore

Nanyang Technological University

Viral lies: AI deepfakes hijack reality in Nepal’s election run-up

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}From fake fist-fights to made-up arrests, AI-generated clips are confusing voters in a nation where just 31 per cent are digitally literate

From fake fist-fights to made-up arrests, AI-generated clips are confusing voters in a nation where just 31 per cent are digitally literate