'What A Crazy Mess!': Brazilian Model Reacts After Her 'Old Photo' Featured In Rahul Gandhi's 'Vote Chori' Press Meet; Read FULL TEXT Here

The Brazilian model who has caught the internet's attention after her photograph was used by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his recent press conference on the alleged voter fraud in Haryana, has now reacted to the controversy.

Identified as Larissa, she took to social media to share her disbelief in a video over how her "old photograph" was used in India for "some election scam." The image, originally uploaded to a free stock photo platform, was shown by Gandhi as part of what he described as “proof” of fake voter identities used multiple times under different names.

Have a look at her reaction here:

Here's a full translation of what she said in the video in Portuguese:

"Guys, I'm gonna tell you a joke. It's too horrible! Yeah... I'll say it. They're using an old picture of mine. It's a really old photo. I was so young in it, like 18 or 20 years old. They're using my photo for... I don't know, some kind of election or voting thing in India. And they're making me look Indian to scam people or hit each other with it. Look how crazy this is! What a mess I'm in!

She added, "Then a reporter called me, wanting to know about this thing. He even called my job to set up an interview with me. I didn't answer, so he found my Instagram and called me there. Now, someone totally unrelated, a friend of mine from another city, sent me a screenshot. I'll show it here; you won't believe it."

Gandhi Alleges '25 Lakh Fake Votes' in Haryana

During his press conference in New Delhi on November 5, Gandhi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Election Commission of large-scale voter fraud in the 2024 Haryana assembly elections. He claimed that around 25 lakh fake votes, which is roughly 12 percent of the total, were cast, alleging “systemic manipulation” of the voter rolls.

Gandhi cited one example where a single photograph appeared under several different names, suggesting that the same individual was shown voting multiple times. The image in question was later identified as belonging to Larissa, taken by photographer Matheus Ferrero and published on Unsplash.com in 2017 under an open-use licence.

Published on: Thursday, November 06, 2025, 09:20 AM IST