Congress leader Rahul Gandhi faced a massive backlash on Wednesday after the Brazilian woman whose photograph he used as “evidence” of voter fraud in the 2024 Haryana elections publicly debunked his claims. At a dramatic press conference titled “H-Files”, Gandhi displayed a 2011 stock image of São Paulo-based digital influencer Larissa Bonesi, alleging it appeared 22 times on electoral rolls in Rai constituency under fake Indian names such as Seema, Sweety, and Saraswati. The Congress MP claimed this was part of a “centralised BJP conspiracy” that added 25 lakh bogus voters to steal the Haryana Assembly election.
Within hours, Larissa posted two Instagram Reels that went viral across India, clarifying that the picture was purchased legally from a global stock agency over a decade ago. “I have never been to India, I don’t speak Hindi, and I am definitely not registered to vote there,” she laughed, showing screenshots of Indian media outlets trying to contact her. The 35-year-old former model, now a successful hairdresser, added: “People were congratulating me as if I won a seat! Thank you for the love, but it was only my photo.”
The BJP pounced immediately. Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared Larissa’s video during a rally in Bihar, mocking Gandhi for “importing fake evidence from Brazil”. Union Minister Smriti Irani called it “the mother of all Pappu moments”, while Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini demanded Rahul apologise to 2.8 crore Haryana voters for insulting their mandate. #BrazilianModel and #RahulExposed trended at number one and two on X throughout Thursday.
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Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera defended the broader allegation of duplicate entries but admitted the party had not verified the specific image before the press conference. Sources said the photograph was sent anonymously via WhatsApp by a “whistle-blower” hours before the event. Senior leader KC Venugopal promised an internal review of verification protocols while insisting the Haryana electoral roll still contained over 11 lakh suspicious entries flagged by Booth Level Officers.
The Election Commission issued a late-night statement noting that Haryana’s voter list underwent three rounds of biometric deduplication between January and August 2024, removing 18.4 lakh bogus entries. Officials invited Rahul Gandhi to submit concrete evidence through Form-7 rather than “stock photographs”, warning that unsubstantiated claims undermine public faith in democratic institutions.
As Bihar voted on Thursday, Larissa Bonesi crossed 300,000 new Indian followers and posted a third video greeting fans in broken Hindi: “Namaste India! Dhanyavaad for all the love. Next video coming in your language!” She ended with a wink: “Maybe one day I’ll visit—but only as a tourist, not a voter!”
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