Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was surrounded by controversy when he showed a photo of a Brazilian woman during a press conference, claiming her image appeared 22 times in Haryana’s voter list. He made the claim while accusing the ruling party of “vote theft” in the state.

The woman in the photo, identified as Larissa,a Brazilian model who  later reacted with shock. She said the picture was from her old modelling days and had been taken from a stock image website without her knowledge. “I have nothing to do with Indian politics. My photo was bought from a stock image platform and used without my involvement. I’ve never even been to India,” she clarified in a video.

Larissa explained that she is now a digital influencer and hairdresser in Brazil, not a model anymore. After her image was shown by Rahul Gandhi, her Instagram account received a flood of comments from Indian users. “Welcome, my Indian followers! People were commenting as if I had been elected. It wasn’t me,  it was only my picture,” she said.

She thanked Indians for their kindness and said she was touched by the attention. “I don’t know your language, but I’m really grateful,” she added, joking that she didn’t even look Indian,“I thought I looked Mexican,” she quipped.

In another video, Larissa mentioned that several Indian journalists had tried to contact her for interviews after her picture went viral. “A bunch of Indian journalists are looking for me. They call me the ‘mysterious Brazilian model,’ but I’m not even a model anymore,” she said.

During his presentation, titled “H-Files,” Rahul Gandhi alleged that a “centralised plan” led to the use of Larissa’s image 22 times across 10 booths in the Rai Assembly constituency, under names like “Seema,” “Sweety,” and “Saraswati.” He further claimed there were over 25 lakh fake voters in Haryana, including duplicates and invalid addresses.

However, the Election Commission denied Gandhi’s claims, saying no complaints had been filed regarding Haryana’s electoral rolls. The BJP also dismissed the allegations as “false and baseless,” accusing Rahul Gandhi of trying to question the Election Commission to cover up his political failures.