New Delhi:

A viral video featuring BJP MP and actor Manoj Tiwari is circulating on social media claiming that the leader has already conceded defeat against the Congress candidate even as his constituency is yet to vote.

The video features a Hindi text overlay that translates to: “Manoj Tiwari has accepted defeat.”

In the 11-second clip, Mr Tiwari, speaking to a journalist in a moving car, says, “Look, I was aware of my defeat, but the sad thing was that I had been winning for a long time, and then I felt like I was about to lose (translated from Hindi).”

On X, the video was shared with captions that read: “The dancer accepted defeat even before the elections. How will the BJP cross 400 (seats) like this? Kanhaiya Kumar is amazing.”

One such post has amassed over 39,000 views at the time of writing. Archived versions of these posts can be found here and here.

Manoj Tiwari is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from the North East Delhi constituency, which he currently represents as a Member of Parliament. The constituency will vote on May 25, when Mr Tiwari will face Kanhaiya Kumar, a Congress leader and former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union, among other candidates.

However, a clip of Manoj Tiwari talking about his unsuccessful 2009 contest has been misinterpreted to claim he has purportedly accepted defeat against Mr Kumar in the ongoing polls.

What Did We Find?

Upon spotting the ‘Jist’ watermark in the viral video, we tracked its extended version on the Jist YouTube channel. This video (archived here) was uploaded on March 31. The video, titled “I Spent A Day With Manoj Tiwari To Discuss Pyar, Cricket, Rahul Gandhi, Modi & Kejriwal | Part-1,” runs for about an hour and 11 minutes. The viral segment appears between the 34:04 mark and the 34:14 timestamps.

The video is of Mr Tiwari interacting with a journalist, and around the 28-minute mark in this clip, Mr Tiwari delves into the 2009 general elections. He mentions that he was initially unaffiliated with any party and even campaigned for money for his now-rival Congress in Lucknow. He recounts how Amar Singh, a politician who served as the general secretary of the Samajwadi Party (SP), brought him into his party.

Around the 31:10 mark, Mr Tiwari says that despite his initial hesitation, he agreed to contest the election as an SP candidate after being urged by Amar Singh at a gathering that included actor Amitabh Bachchan and businessman Anil Ambani.

Further, he recalls his hesitance to contest the 2009 elections against BJP leader Yogi Adityanath in Gorakhpur due to his past affiliation with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP. He also narrates an incident where he fled to Mumbai during the campaign to evade facing Yogi Adityanath and the fear of his inevitable defeat, only to be caught and forced to return.

Then, around the 34:04 mark, Mr Tiwari says, “Look, I was aware of my defeat. But the sad thing was that I had been winning for a long time. I felt like I was about to lose.”

He then says, “But even in that defeat, there was a victory because of Yogi Adityanath, who stood for Hindu culture, civilization, and Sanatan culture… We didn’t know that Narendra Modi would become the country’s Prime Minister at the time. I’m talking about 2009. In 2009, you could see there was a situation of complete political instability throughout the country.”

This bit, where it is clear that he was referring to the 2009 elections, has been omitted from the viral clip to make it appear that he conceded defeat in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

2009 General Elections

Manoj Tiwari began his political career in Gorakhpur in 2009 when he ran as a Samajwadi Party candidate. He contested against Yogi Adityanath – now the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, who had consistently represented Gorakhpur in Parliament since 1998, as reported by NDTV.

However, Mr Tiwari was unsuccessful in his Parliament bid at the time, securing only around 83,000 votes. Yogi Adityanath had polled over four lakh votes, and Bahujan Samaj Party’s Vinay Shankar Tiwari got 1.82 lakh votes. Mr Tiwari first won the Lok Sabha election in 2014 after he joined the BJP.

The Verdict

In the original video, Mr Tiwari discusses the 2009 general elections, which he had contested against Yogi Adityanath in Gorakhpur. This segment has been cropped and shared out of context to claim that he has already conceded defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

New Delhi:

 Bhojpuri singer-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari (53) is the richest among the prominent candidates from the BJP, AAP and the Congress in fray for the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi with total assets worth Rs 28.05 crore.

Second in line is Ramvir Singh Bidhuri (71), the BJP’s candidate in South Delhi, with total assets of Rs 21.08 crore. According to his 2022-23 Income Tax returns, Bidhuri had an income of Rs 14.93 lakh.

The third richest among poll contenders is Mahabal Mishra (69), the AAP’s candidate from West Delhi. He has declared Rs 19.93 crore. Mishra’s highest qualification is pre-university certificate from LS College Muzaffarpur, Bihar obtained in 1971.

Oxford-returned lawyer Bansuri Swaraj (40), daughter of former external affairs minister late Sushma Swaraj, with total assets worth Rs 19 crore, stands fourth in the row, followed by former AAP leader Raaj Kumar Anand who jumped ships to the BSP and owns assets worth Rs 17.87 crore.

Ms Swaraj, who is the BJP’s debutant contender from the New Delhi seat, owns two vehicles, including the high-end Mercedes Benz purchased in 2023, according to her self-sworn affidavit.

She possesses one-sixth of joint property in Palwal, Haryana valued at Rs 99.34 lakh and three flats in Delhi’s posh areas — two at Jantar Mantar and one at Hailey Road.

In her election affidavit, Ms Swaraj revealed her income at Rs 68.28 lakh in her Income Tax return filed for the year 2022-23.

She is a lawyer by profession who earned her Barrister-at-Law from Inns of Inner Temple, London, in 2007 and completed Master of Studies from St Catherines’s College, University of Oxford, in 2009.

Mr Tiwari, who is contesting from the North East Delhi seat from the BJP third time in a row, declared his income to be Rs 46.25 lakh in his Income Tax returns filed for 2022-23. He stated that his sources of income are singing and acting, and as an MP.

He completed BA (Honours) from the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) from where he also did a masters in physical education in 1994.

Mr Anand is the BSP’s candidate from the high profile New Delhi seat. He declared in his poll affidavit that he has vehicles worth Rs 51 lakh including that of his wife.

Congress’ Kanhaiya Kumar from North East seat contesting against Tiwari has a total asset of Rs 10.65 lakh. He has a PhD from JNU that he completed in 2019.

BJP’s Kamaljeet Sehrawat from West Delhi seat declared her movable assets worth Rs 1.30 crore and immovable assets worth Rs 27.60 lakh in her poll affidavit. She is a Masters in Commerce from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla.

Praveen Khandelwal (64), the BJP’s Chandni Chowk candidate, declared assets worth Rs 6.62 crore. According to his Income Tax returns of 2022-23, he had an income of Rs 4.56 lakh. He completed his graduation from Delhi University’ Ramjas College.

Udit Raj (66), the Congress’ North West Delhi candidate, completed his MA from Osmania University in 1988 and LLB from MMH College, CCS University, Meerut, in 1995. He received an honorary doctorate from Bible College and Seminary, Kota, in 2003.

He has shown an income of about Rs 1 crore in his 2022-23 Income Tax returns. He has movable assets worth Rs 5.54 crore.

Rajan Singh (26), the first third gender candidate in the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, also filed his papers from the South Delhi seat. His election affidavit shows Rs 1 lakh cash in hand and total movable assets worth Rs 15.10 lakh, including 200 grams gold and about Rs 10,000 in a bank account.

Mr Singh declared no immovable assets in his poll affidavit.

Kuldeep Kumar (35), the AAP’s candidate from East Delhi, has declared movable assets of Rs 21.41 lakh and no immovable assets. He is a dropout from Delhi University’s Shyam Lal College.

Congress’ J P Agarwal (79) is a veteran Congress leader fielded from Chandni Chowk. He has total moveable assets worth Rs 76.98 lakh and immovable assets worth Rs 1.78 crore. He completed his graduation from Delhi University’s Hansraj College in 1964.

Harsh Malhotra, 60, stated in his affidavit that his total assets stood at Rs 3.75 crore and his source of income is printing business. The East Delhi BJP candidate is a law graduate from the Delhi University.

Sahi Ram, aged 63, is an MLA from Tughalaqbad constituency. He declared in his affidavit that his main source of income was his salary and allowances as MLA, interest on savings account and rent. According to his affidavit, Ram owns movable assets of Rs 34.80 lakh and Rs 1.04 crore as immovable assets.

Yogender Chandoliya, the BJP’s North West Delhi candidate, graduated with a BA (Political Science and History) degree from Subharti University in Meerut in 2022, according to his election affidavit.

The 61-year-old showed an income of Rs 3.83 lakh in his Income Tax returns filed for 2022-23. His movable assets are worth Rs 29.31 lakh and those of his wife Rs 31.92 lakh, the affidavit showed.

Mr Chandoliya owns a third of a joint family property in Raigar Pura that has a current market value of Rs 2.15 crore. He and his wife also own separate vehicles.

Delhi will go to polls in the sixth phase on May 25, with counting to take place on June 4.

The scrutiny of the filed nomination papers will be held on May 7, while the last date to withdraw names is May 9.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

In a calculated manoeuvre to secure an early advantage in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and surpass the significant threshold of 400 seats through its alliance with the other parties of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has unveiled a list of 195 candidates even before the official announcement of poll dates. The list comprises established political figures and four Bhojpuri film superstars entering the electoral arena.

The four Bhojpuri film actors are Ravi Kishan, Manoj Tiwari, Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirhua’, and Pawan Singh.

Ravi Kishan, who emerged victorious in the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, has been nominated once more by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Transitioning from an actor to a politician, Ravi Kishan is now recognized as the Amitabh Bachchan of Bhojpuri cinema.

Manoj Tiwari, who secured victories in the North-East Delhi Lok Sabha seat in both the 2014 and 2019 elections, was the subject of speculation regarding a potential shift to contest from a seat in Bihar. However, it has been confirmed that he will, for the third consecutive time, vie for the Lok Sabha seat in North-East Delhi.

Dinesh Lal Yadav, popularly known as ‘Nirahua,’ contested the Lok Sabha elections from the Azamgarh constituency in 2019, where he faced a defeat against the Samajwadi Party’s national president, Akhilesh Yadav. However, in the 2022 elections, Akhilesh Yadav decided to contest the assembly elections, leading to his resignation from the Lok Sabha seat. Subsequently, a by-election was conducted to fill the vacant position, and Nirahua emerged victorious by defeating Akhilesh’s brother and Samajwadi Party candidate, Dharmendra Yadav.

Pawan Singh, renowned as a Bhojpuri singer, actor, music composer, and stage performer, has made a significant move into the political arena. Recognized for his contributions to the Bhojpuri film industry, Singh has now been named as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for the Asansol Lok Sabha seat in Bengal. This marks a notable transition in his career as he ventures into the realm of politics.

Simultaneously, several prominent figures from the film industry have been announced as candidates for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Notable names include Hema Malini, set to contest from the Mathura Lok Sabha seat, Locket Chatterjee, who will vie for the Hooghly seat in West Bengal, and singer-actor Suresh Gopi, who is slated to contest from the Thrissur seat in Kerala.

New Delhi:

Citing a vigilance directorate report, Delhi BJP MP Manoj Tiwari on Friday demanded a CBI probe into an alleged “scam” in the construction of classrooms in Delhi government schools.

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party alleged in a statement that the BJP wants to hinder the “excellent work” being done by the Delhi government in the field of education.

Addressing a press conference, Mr Tiwari said that the report was submitted by the Vigilance Directorate to Lokayukta last month.

In 2018, the MP filed a complaint at the Delhi Lokayukta against alleged irregularities in the construction of classrooms in Delhi government schools.

“Semi-permanent schools were constructed at a cost of Rs 32 lakh while permanent classrooms were constructed by the municipal corporations at a cost of Rs 9 lakh,” Mr Tiwari said in the press conference.

“The report submitted by the Vigilance Directorate to the Lokayukta clearly states that the number of classrooms reduced from 7,180 to 4,126 but no deduction of any kind was made in the budget for this,” Mr Tiwari said.

The matter should be handed over to the Criminal Bureau of Investigation (CBI), he added.

Mr Tiwari said the AAP government is like a “Choron Ki Barat” (band of thieves) headed by Arvind Kejriwal, and alleged “scams” in different departments of Delhi government.

Delhi BJP secretary Harish Khurana said the time has come that those responsible for the “scam” be put behind the bars.

The AAP charged that the BJP is against quality education for the children of the country.

“The BJP is using its power every day to try to stop the good education that children in Delhi are receiving,” the party said.

No matter what happens, Delhi will continue to have a world-class education system of government schools, the AAP said in a statement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)