Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Brazilian Model’ Claim Sparks Global Confusion

• Rahul Gandhi alleged a “Brazilian woman” appeared 22 times in Haryana’s voter list.
• The woman, identified as Brazilian hairdresser Larissa Nery, said her 8-year-old photo was misused.
• The image, clicked by photographer Matheus Ferrero, is freely available on stock websites.
• Election Commission and BJP leaders dismissed Gandhi’s claims as baseless.

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 6th Nov: A fresh controversy erupted on Wednesday after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged massive voter fraud in Haryana, claiming a Brazilian woman’s photograph appeared 22 times in the state’s voter list. However, the woman at the centre of the storm — Larissa Nery, a hairdresser from Brazil — has now clarified that the image Gandhi used was taken eight years ago and has no connection to India or its elections.

In a viral video message, Larissa said, “Guys, they are using an old photo of mine. It’s an old photo, okay? I was like 18 or 20 years old. And in India, they’re portraying me as Indian to scam people. What craziness is this?” She further revealed that journalists were contacting her for interviews, adding, “Now, a friend sent me the photo and said I’ve gone viral in India. Oh man, this is insane!”

Larissa’s photograph — titled “woman wearing blue denim jacket” — has been freely available for download on stock photography sites like Unsplash and Pexels, credited to Brazilian photographer Matheus Ferrero from Belo Horizonte. According to the platforms, the image has been downloaded over 4 lakh times globally.

Speaking to Brazilian news agency Aos Fatos, Larissa clarified she is not a model and had posed for a friend’s photography project. Ferrero confirmed that he had taken the image years ago and later deleted his social media accounts after facing online harassment following Gandhi’s remarks. “They hacked my accounts; many thought I was the woman in the photo,” he said.

The photo went viral after Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of enabling large-scale voter duplication in Haryana’s Rai Assembly constituency. Displaying the Brazilian woman’s image, he alleged that the same face appeared on voter IDs under names like Seema, Sweety, Saraswati, Rashmi, and Vimla, claiming, “This is a centralised operation to convert Congress’s victory into a loss.”

However, Election Commission sources rejected the charge, questioning why Congress polling agents failed to raise objections during voting. “They are supposed to flag duplicate votes on polling day,” a source said, adding that the Commission is already conducting a Special Intensive Revision to clean voter lists.

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju dismissed Gandhi’s comments as “fake issues,” saying, “Polling is happening in Bihar, yet he’s talking about Haryana. There’s nothing left for him in Bihar, so he’s shifting the narrative.”

The episode has now turned into a social media spectacle, with the “Mysterious Brazilian Model” — who turned out to be a hairstylist — ironically writing on Instagram, “Wow, that’s crazy! I’m famous in India!”