Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegation of ‘vote chori’ in Haryana took an unexpected turn on Wednesday when he displayed a photograph of a woman — claiming it appeared 22 times across the state’s voter rolls under names like Seema, Sweety, and Saraswati.

The image, he said, was “proof of electoral fraud” that cost the Congress victory in the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections.

“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,” Gandhi said during a press conference titled ‘H Files’ on Thursday.

Photo traced to Brazilian photographer’s portfolio

Shortly after Gandhi’s remarks, social media users and journalists traced the image online — discovering that it belonged to a Brazilian model featured in the public portfolio of photographer Matheus Ferrero on the image-sharing site Unsplash.

Ferrero’s photos are widely used in digital projects and stock visuals worldwide. The discovery sparked a frenzy online, with searches for the model’s identity trending across social media platforms.

Brazilian woman reacts: “They are using my old photo”

Hours later, a woman identified as Larissa Nery, a Brazilian model and content creator, posted a video reacting to the controversy. Speaking in Portuguese, Larissa expressed shock upon learning her image was allegedly used in India’s voter lists.

“Folks, they are using an old photo of mine. I must have been about 20 years old. They’re portraying me as an Indian woman for some election where people vote. What madness is this?” she said in a light-hearted but visibly confused tone.

Larissa added that she had been contacted by journalists, including one who “called the salon where I work” to verify her identity. “Oh my God, how crazy. What world are we living in?” she said, adding that she’d received messages and screenshots from people across Brazil.

She later shared screenshots of her viral video being circulated on X to her Instagram Story (@larinerym).

Rahul Gandhi’s allegations

At the press conference, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the repetition of the woman’s photo across the Rai Assembly constituency voter lists showed evidence of a “centralised operation” to manipulate election results.

“This is not just one image. It is part of a system to distort democracy,” he said, demanding an independent investigation into the voter list irregularities.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has not yet issued an official response to Gandhi’s claims.

Background and online verification

According to independent verification, the image Gandhi referred to matches a photo shot by Brazilian photographer Matheus Ferrero, whose work includes portrait and fashion photography. The same image has appeared in several online repositories of stock visuals.

Tech experts note that the reuse of public stock photos is a known issue in digital identity fraud cases, although its appearance in official voter databases, if verified, would raise serious procedural concerns.

Social media frenzy

Following the press conference, the hashtag #BrazilianModel trended on Indian social media, with users sharing memes, screenshots, and translations of Larissa’s video.

While some mocked the incident as “the most global election fraud ever,” others criticised the Congress for what they called “unverified theatrics.”