From Haryana to Brazil: Woman in Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote theft’ claim speaks out
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi turned heads on Wednesday with a new twist in his “vote chori” allegation. At a press briefing titled H Files, Gandhi accused the Haryana administration of large-scale voter fraud. He showed a photo of a woman he claimed appeared 22 times in the state’s voter rolls — under different names like Seema, Sweety, and Saraswati.
He told reporters, “Who is this lady? What is her name? Where does she come from? Yet she votes 22 times in Haryana at 10 booths.” Gandhi said the image proved what he called a centralised operation to manipulate poll results. He alleged that fake entries like these cost Congress the 2024 Haryana Assembly election.
Soon after the press meet, social media exploded with searches for the “Brazilian model” mentioned by Gandhi. Online users identified the photo as one shot by Matheus Ferrero, a Brazilian photographer known for his portraits on free photo sites like Unsplash. Gandhi said Ferrero’s picture had been used without authorisation in the Haryana voter list.
Hours later, a woman claiming to be the person in that image appeared online. She introduced herself as Larissa Nery and reacted in a light-hearted video that quickly went viral. Speaking in Portuguese, she said the picture shown by Gandhi was hers, taken when she was around 20.
“People, let me tell you the gossip,” she said, laughing. “They are using my old photo. I looked so young there. They are showing me as an Indian woman in some election. What madness is this?”
Larissa added that the sudden attention shocked her. Reporters began calling her, and one even contacted the salon where she works. “Oh my God, this is crazy,” she said in the video. “A journalist found my Instagram and messaged me for an interview. I didn’t answer.”
She said friends from other cities sent her screenshots of the viral image. Her Instagram story later showed the same video being shared widely on X (formerly Twitter). AI-generated translations of her remarks revealed she was amused but also concerned about the misuse of her photo.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India rejected claims of any large-scale fraud in Haryana. Officials said they received no formal complaints about the alleged duplicate voter entries. Congress leaders, however, said they would submit more evidence in the coming days.
The controversy triggered heated political exchanges. BJP leaders dismissed Gandhi’s remarks as “baseless drama,” while Congress members demanded a probe into the authenticity of voter rolls.
As the debate continues, the case of a Brazilian model unexpectedly caught in Indian politics has drawn global attention. What began as Rahul Gandhi’s charge of vote theft has turned into an internet sensation linking Haryana and Brazil — with Larissa Nery at the center of a story no one saw coming.
