New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi’s “vote-chori” presser has put the spotlight on a Brazilian woman whose photo the Congress leader claimed appeared multiple times on Haryana’s voter list, with the Internet abuzz about her identity and a video reaction of hers expressing shock at the development.
Congress leader and the party’s social media head, Supriya Shrinate, shared a video of the woman, identified as Larissa Nery, purportedly reacting to her image going viral, after Gandhi showed it at his press conference here on Wednesday and claimed that it was used 22 times at 10 booths in the Rai Assembly constituency of Haryana, with names such as “Seema, Sweety and Saraswati” on the electoral list.
Media reports quoted the Brazilian woman as saying in the video that the photo shown at the press conference is an old photo of hers.
“Guys, they are using an old photo of mine. It is an old photo, okay? I was young in the photo, I was like 18 or 20 years old.... I do not know if it is an election or something about voting that you have to vote for. And in India. Ah! they are portraying me as Indian to scam people, guys. What madness!” she was quoted as saying, according to a rough translation from Portuguese.
In another video, she said her Instagram following had surged after the controversy. “Welcome, my Indian followers! It seems I’ve gained many Indian followers now. People were commenting on my photos as if I had been elected! Just to be clear, it wasn’t me, it was just my photo,” she clarified.
The controversy erupted after Indian fact-checker Mohammed Zubair shared a video highlighting that the photograph shown in Gandhi’s presser did not belong to an Indian citizen.
The revelation sparked widespread discussion online, with social media users mocking the mix-up and questioning how the image became linked to Indian voter identification records. mpost