'What madness!' Brazilian model in Haryana's voter list speaks out

Rahul Gandhi’s ‘H-bomb’ press conference on Wednesday, exposing the voter list manipulation in Haryana, alleged that a mysterious Brazilian model’s photograph was used several times under the names of “Sweety,” “Seema,” “Saraswati” and many more.

The woman in the photo, identified as Larissa Nery, has now come forward to speak on the issue, stating she is not a model but a hairstylist. Shocked by the news, she posted a video on social media, which has since taken the internet by storm.

“They’re using an old picture of mine,” she said. “I was 18 or 20 back then. I don’t even know what this is about – something to do with elections in India.”

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The model’s name became a subject of massive internet searches immediately following Rahul Gandhi’s mention.

Speaking in Portuguese, she continued, “They’re portraying me as Indian to scam people. What madness, what craziness is this? What world do we live in?”

Following the wide circulation of her image, the issue snowballed as reporters began contacting her.

“A reporter contacted me for an interview about my work in the salon. Another person even found me on Instagram,” she said.

Finding the sudden spotlight amusing, she later posted on Instagram, expressing surprise, “Wow, that’s crazy! I’m famous in India as the mysterious Brazilian model.”

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had asked in the press conference, “Who is this lady? What is her name? Where does she come from? But she votes 22 times in Haryana, at 10 different booths, and has multiple names.”

Gandhi had also said that the image could be traced to the photographer Matheus Ferrero.

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Ferrero is reportedly based in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, and had taken the photo in 2017. The photograph titled “woman wearing blue denim jacket” is available on stock photography for free. It has since been downloaded 4 lakh times and used in several publications.

A Brazilian news agency, Aos Fatos, spoke to Ferrero, who stated that he had deleted his Instagram account after the photo became viral.

“They literally hacked all my accounts. There were a lot of strange people saying all sorts of things,” he was quoted by the agency.

Meanwhile, attacking the BJP government, Gandhi had claimed that this was a “centralised operation.” He accused the Election Commission of facilitating poll irregularities during last year’s Haryana election.

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