Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s latest ‘H-bomb’ over alleged irregularities in the voters’ list took an unusual turn.
Gandhi claimed that the Haryana Assembly polls last year were “stolen,” alleging that a Brazilian model’s photograph was used 22 times across 10 booths in the Rai Assembly constituency.
During his presentation on Wednesday in New Delhi, Gandhi showed a slideshow with the question “Yeh kaun hai? (Who is she?)”, displaying the model’s photo on a voter ID card.
He further claimed that she was “one of 25 lakh such records in Haryana,” which he described as “proof of a centralised operation.”
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha also alleged that a plan was in motion to turn what could have been a Congress landslide victory in Haryana into a loss.
However, the woman in the photograph has now responded to the controversy.
In videos circulating on social media, the model -- identified as Lariss Nery -- claimed that the picture shown in Gandhi’s presentation was taken when she was “about 20 years old.”
“Folks, let me tell you the gossip. You’re laughing too much, aren’t you? I’m going to tell you. They’re using an old photo of mine. My photo is old, okay? Look, I was very young in that picture—maybe 18 or 20 years old,” Larissa said in the video.
“They are using my photo for something—I don’t know if it’s an election or some kind of voting event. In India, they are portraying me as an Indian woman to scam others, folks,” she added.
“Oh my God, how crazy! What madness is this? What kind of world are we living in?” she said, adding that a journalist had even contacted the salon where she works.
“Then a reporter called me, wanting to know about this thing. He called the salon where I work, asking for an interview. I didn’t answer… Then the guy found my Instagram and called me there,” she said.
Larissa later reposted screenshots showing her video being circulated on X (formerly Twitter) to her Instagram story.
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