Brazilian Model's Photo Used in Voter ID Fraud: Rahul Gandhi Alleges Electoral Manipulation in Haryana

New Delhi:

The woman at the center of the 'Brazilian model row' informed NDTV on Thursday that one of the counterfeit voter identification cards Rahul Gandhi highlighted this week - adding to what the Congress party claims is growing evidence of widespread fraud involving the Election Commission and the ruling BJP - is not actually hers.

"The card I possess has my photo... the one Rahul Gandhi displayed does not. I cast my vote. I don't know whose photo appears on the fake card," stated the woman, who identified herself as Munesh.

On Wednesday, Gandhi alleged that a single voter ID - featuring a photograph of a Brazilian woman, apparently downloaded from stock image websites - was utilized to vote 22 times in Haryana's Rai constituency last year, a seat won by BJP's Krishna Gahlawat, who defeated Congress candidate Bhagwan Antil by 4,673 votes.

In response, BJP's Kiren Rijiju criticized Gandhi for raising "fake issues" hours before voting commenced in Bihar. "There's nothing remaining in Bihar, so he's shifting the narrative to Haryana."

EC sources noted that Congress had not filed any relevant appeal or objection during the review of the Haryana election result. Sources also dismissed the allegations as baseless and questioned Congress's own vigilance during the electoral process.

During his presentation, Gandhi alleged massive voter fraud - 25 lakh votes by his estimate - in the Haryana election. In that election, Congress received approximately 83,000 fewer votes than the BJP.

"This suggests one in eight voters in Haryana are fake... 12.5 percent," he claimed.

The Congress leader then presented Munesh's 'voter ID card' as evidence, and when someone pointed out that the woman in the photograph did not appear to be from Haryana, he responded, "But she votes 22 times... she has multiple names: Seema, Sweety, Saraswati, Rashmi, Vimla."

Larissa Nery (L), the Brazilian woman whose photograph appears on a Haryana voter ID card.

The Congress leader repeated his allegations of voter fraud, stating, "This is a centralized operation. Someone entered this lady into the list at a centralized level, not at the booth level."

Displaying more instances of voter IDs with identical pictures but different names, he asserted, "The EC can remove duplicates instantly. Why don't they do it? Reason: they are assisting the BJP."

"I am questioning the Election Commission and the democratic process in India, and I am doing so with 100 percent proof. We are certain a plan was implemented to transform Congress's landslide victory into a defeat," he declared, referencing his party's unexpected loss in Haryana.

The Congress had established an early lead as votes were counted, only for the BJP to stage a late comeback and secure 48 of the state's 90 seats. Congress obtained 37 seats.

Following Rahul Gandhi's presentation, an independent investigation by NDTV uncovered notable irregularities in Rai voter rolls. In Malikpur village in Sonipat district, several voters - including four members of one family - had mysteriously disappeared from the list.

One voter, Anjali Tyagi, reported she had voted in the federal election held in April-May last year but could not vote in the Assembly election conducted five months later.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian woman whose photo was used in Munesh's ID card has been identified as Larissa Nery, a hairdresser who posed for that photograph eight years ago, unaware that it would travel across the world and become the focal point of a significant controversy.

A video of Nery has now gone viral, in which she states, "Guys, they are using an old photo of mine. It's an old photo, okay? I was about 18 or 20 years old. I don't know if it's an election or something about voting... And in India. Ah! They're portraying me as Indian to scam people, guys. What madness!"

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