New Delhi: A young Brazilian woman has unexpectedly found herself at the center of a political storm in India after her photograph was used by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while alleging voter list irregularities in Haryana. The woman, identified as Larissa Nery, is not a model but a hairdresser whose eight year old photograph has circulated widely on free stock image platforms.
Larissa posted a video after her image went viral in India. She explained that the photo shared by Gandhi during his press conference was taken when she was around twenty years old and had no connection to Indian elections. Speaking in Portuguese, she expressed disbelief that her image was being presented as that of a voter in Haryana. She said she was receiving calls from reporters and messages from acquaintances who had come across the photo online.
In a social media update, she humorously noted that she had suddenly become “famous in India” as the so called mysterious Brazilian model.
The picture in question is available on free stock platforms such as Unsplash and Pexels under the title “woman wearing blue denim jacket.” The image was taken by Brazilian photographer Matheus Ferrero, who is based in Belo Horizonte. According to the platforms, the photo has been downloaded more than four lakh times. Larissa had posed for the image to help a friend, and Ferrero had her permission to publish it.
Ferrero said he had to delete his Instagram account after a surge of attention, with many users mistakenly assuming his name was that of the woman in the photograph. He said his accounts were targeted and flooded with unusual messages, likely because most people did not realise the photo came from a free image library.
Larissa’s image became a major talking point after Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of allowing duplicated voter entries in the Haryana polls. Gandhi said the same photograph appeared multiple times in the voter list for the Rai constituency under different names. He alleged that this indicated a coordinated effort to manipulate the election.
The Election Commission countered by questioning why the Congress polling agents did not flag such entries on voting day and asked whether Gandhi supported the ongoing Special Intensive Revision intended to clean up voter rolls.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju dismissed Gandhi’s allegations, saying he was raising irrelevant issues during polling in Bihar and shifting attention away from current electoral matters.
