New Delhi: Candidates in Indian elections have been known to make outlandish promises and claims. But one panchayat election candidate in Maharashtra has got all of them beat.

According to a report in The Financial Express, Vitthal Ganpat Ghavate, who is contesting for the post of sarpanch in Ramalinga Gram Panchayat in Shirur, promised voters to bring Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli to an election rally on May 25.

(Photo tweeted by @TheChaoticNinja)

Word spread like fire, with billboards and banners with the photos of Ghavate and Kohli put up at several places.

When the day came a huge crowd gathered to meet the cricketing icon. The star guest’s arrival sent fans into a frenzy, with people jostling to click selfies with the skipper, only to realise that Ghavate had arranged for a look-alike of Kohli instead of the real deal.

The gaffe went viral on social media with Twitter user Alexis Rooney’s post.

So this actually happened. They put up an election rally ad saying Virat Kohli is going to campaign for us and they actually fooled public by bringing a lookalike of Virat Kohli 😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/Xl9GvAVi2W — Alexis Rooney (@TheChaoticNinja) May 25, 2018

The real Virat Kohli, meanwhile, had no idea that his name was being used to pull in voters. Fans, however, were only too happy to bring his attention to the entire episode.

.@imVkohli hits the campaign trail in injury time! 😂😂 https://t.co/DoInqvNkyq — Bhuvan Bagga (@Bhuvanbagga) May 26, 2018

I can't stop laughing 😂😂😂. No ones tagged @imVkohli yet ? — See Ma (@iGeekyChic) May 26, 2018