Vote-Chori Row: Brazilian Model Deletes Instagram Account
Rahul Gandhi’s claim of fake voter entries in Haryana polls goes viral after a Brazilian woman’s stock photo appears multiple times on electoral rolls
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s “vote-chori” (vote theft) press conference has set off a global buzz after the Congress leader displayed a Brazilian woman’s photograph—claiming it was used 22 times in Haryana’s voter list under names like “Seema,” “Sweety,” and “Saraswati.”
The woman, identified as Larissa Nery, expressed shock in a viral video shared by Congress leader Supriya Shrinate. Speaking in Portuguese, she said the image was taken years ago and was being “used to scam people” in India. “Guys, that’s an old photo of mine. I was like 18 or 20 years old. They are portraying me as Indian to scam people. What madness!” she said.
Gandhi alleged during his presser that a “centralised operation” led to massive voter fraud in last year’s Haryana Assembly elections, accusing the Election Commission of colluding with the BJP. “This is proof of a centralised plan,” he said, showing the woman’s image alongside a QR code linking to her online profile.
Soon after, Matheus Ferrero, the Brazilian photographer who took the picture in 2017, found himself at the centre of online attention. The image—titled “Woman Wearing Blue Denim Jacket”—had been freely available on stock photo platforms like Unsplash and Pexels, downloaded over 400,000 times.
Ferrero later told Brazilian news outlet Aos Fatos that he deleted his Instagram account following harassment and account hacking. “There were a lot of strange people saying all sorts of things. Many didn’t understand it was a free-use photo,” he said.
According to Aos Fatos, the woman in the photograph is a hairdresser from Minas Gerais, Brazil, who posed for the picture as a favour to Ferrero in 2017. She clarified she is not a professional model and has “no connection whatsoever” with Indian politics or elections.
Meanwhile, Gandhi’s claims have intensified debate over alleged irregularities in India’s voter databases, prompting responses from both the Election Commission and political rivals.
