The Brazilian model was mentioned by Rahul Gandhi, which led to a huge internet search for her.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s claim of ‘vote hori’ in Haryana took an unexpected turn on Wednesday when a photo of a Brazilian woman appeared at the centre of the controversy. Gandhi showed a picture of a woman during a press conference and said her image was used 22 times in Haryana’s voter list under different names like Saraswati, Sweety, and Seema.
The Brazilian model was mentioned by Rahul Gandhi, which led to a huge internet search for her.
“Who is this lady? What is her name? Where does she come from? But she votes 22 times in Haryana, at 10 different booths, and has multiple names,” the Congress leader asked in the presser titled ‘H Files’ on Thursday.
Gandhi said at the press conference that the picture was “proof” of large-scale electoral fraud, which he claimed prevented the Congress from winning the 2024 Haryana assembly election.
The Congress leader claimed that the image appeared more than once in the Rai assembly constituency’s voter lists and called it a “centralized operation” to rig the results.
He also said the same image could be found online and linked it to Brazilian photographer Matheus Ferrero, whose work is available on the website Unsplash. Gandhi alleged this was part of a ‘centralised operation’ to rig the election.
Brazilian woman responds
Hours later, the woman in the photo came forward online. She was identified through a reverse-image search as Larissa Nery, a Brazilian model.
In a video, Larissa said the photo shown by Gandhi was taken when she was around 18–20 years old. She seemed surprised and amused, saying she never expected her picture to be used in an Indian election controversy.
“People are using an old photo of mine,” she said in Portuguese. According to translated clips online, she added, “They are using my photo in something related to voting in India, as if I am an Indian woman.”
Larissa said journalists even contacted the salon where she works. “What madness is this? A reporter called the salon looking for me,” she said, adding that she began receiving many messages after her picture went viral.
She also shared screenshots of her video circulating on social media.
According to online sources, her photo was originally taken by photographer Matheus Ferrero, whose portraits are popular on free-image websites.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: dnaindia.com
