AI avatars of Donald Trump, Musk and other personalities dominate DUSU 2025 campaign

Polling for the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections began on Thursday, 18 September, against the backdrop of a campaign season transformed by artificial intelligence.

Unlike earlier years, the walls of North Campus remain largely free of posters and graffiti. Instead, students have been met with a flood of AI-generated celebrity endorsements on their social media feeds — a digital shift prompted by a Delhi High Court order last year. The court had cracked down on the defacement of public property, even staying the vote count until campaign graffiti was cleaned, delaying the results by more than a month.

Leading this year’s technological push is the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). Its social media channels are brimming with deepfake videos featuring avatars of international figures lending their voices to candidates.

Another video features a digital likeness of Elon Musk, positioned against the backdrop of a rocket launch. “Ballot number three… is the only launchpad for DUSU’s future,” he says, again promoting Chaudhary. Even characters from the sitcom Tarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah are endorsing Chaudhary.

For the presidential race, ABVP candidate Aryan Maan has been endorsed by an AI avatar of Tesla Chief Elon Musk.

Virendra Singh Solanki, ABVP’s national general secretary, told The Indian Express that a centralised team is behind the campaign. He said that they have a centralised team of over 60 students from colleges across Delhi who are using various AI tools to generate such videos for our social media campaigning.

In contrast, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the student wing of the Congress party, has refrained from using AI avatars. A scan of its official Instagram account revealed no deepfake endorsements, underscoring the contrasting campaign tactics of the two leading student groups.

Voting commenced today, with the counting of ballots scheduled for Friday, 19 September. This year’s AI-heavy campaign signals a turning point in student politics at Delhi University — moving the electoral battle from campus walls to smartphone screens, and marking the arrival of digital campaigning as the new norm.