After Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of large-scale voter fraud in Haryana, India Today TV tracked down two women whose voter IDs allegedly displayed the photo of a “Brazilian model” — a claim central to Gandhi’s “vote chori” (vote theft) allegation.

Both women have denied any involvement in wrongdoing, stating that the mix-up stemmed from clerical or data entry errors at the election office, not any deliberate attempt at voter fraud.

‘I cast vote myself,’ says Pinky Kaushik

Speaking exclusively to the channel, Pinky Juginder Kaushik, one of the women whose voter ID was allegedly linked to the viral “Brazilian model” image, clarified that her voter card had a long-standing photo misprint, an error she had reported years ago.

“I went myself to cast my vote in 2024. There’s no vote chori here,” Pinky said. “When I had applied for my voter card, it first arrived with a photo misprint — it had the picture of another woman from my village. We immediately returned it, but the corrected copy never came. I cast my vote using my voter slip and Aadhaar card.”

She stressed that any mismatch in the voter ID photo was due to official error, not intentional manipulation. “The mistake is from the BLO or the election office. How is it my fault? We had already requested rectification,” she added.

Pinky’s brother-in-law also dismissed the allegations as “propaganda,” asserting that she personally voted and that the family had no role in any irregularity.

‘Error from data operators, not us’

In another case, the family of Munish Devi — whose voter ID was also linked to the same photo — expressed similar frustration. Her brother-in-law said that Munish, who now lives in Sonipat, has consistently voted from her ancestral home in Machroli village.

“I got a call from the election office today. They asked me to send Munish’s voter card, and I have done so,” he told the channel. “I brought my mother and sister-in-law to vote together in 2024. She cast her own vote. There’s no vote chori.”

He firmly rejected suggestions that the family might have sold or transferred their vote. “Even the agents know we came to cast our own votes. This problem had happened once before when her photo was swapped incorrectly, showing another woman from our village. The error is from the data operators, not us,” he said.

Investigations by India Today TV confirmed that both Pinky and Munish’s voter cards had previously contained photo misprints, featuring pictures of unrelated women from the same locality.

Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote chori’ charge

Earlier on Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi alleged that nearly 25 lakh fake votes — accounting for around 12% of Haryana’s electorate — were cast during the 2025 Assembly election.

He claimed that Congress’s narrow defeat in the state, where it was projected to win comfortably, was the result of systematic “vote chori”. Gandhi’s team reportedly found over five lakh duplicate voter entries, including cases where a Brazilian model’s image allegedly appeared under multiple names such as “Seema,” “Sweety,” and “Saraswati,” purportedly used to cast 22 votes.

However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) rejected the allegations, clarifying that no formal appeals had been filed against the electoral rolls. It further noted that only 22 election petitions were currently pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court — a normal figure for a state election.

Data errors vs. voter fraud

The controversy has reignited debate over accuracy and digitisation in voter databases, particularly in rural areas where manual entry and limited verification can cause photo mismatches and duplicate entries.

Officials say many such errors occur during the transition to digital records or due to poor-quality photographs submitted by voters. Experts believe that while these technical lapses must be corrected, they do not necessarily indicate systematic vote rigging.

As the Election Commission reviews the allegations, both voters and officials have called for a more transparent rectification process to prevent similar confusion in future polls.