New Delhi

A Brazilian hairdresser, Larissa Nery, finds herself caught in the Indian electoral politics as the leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, showed her old photograph to push his campaign against the Election Commission of India for registering ‘fraudulent voters’.

Reacting to the claim, Larissa Nery, who lives in Minas Gerais, a state in southeastern Brazil, said this was an old photograph.

Larissa Nery’s image is free stock image taken in Belo Horizonte nearly eight years ago by Brazilian photographer Matheus Ferrero.

The photo is available on websites like Unsplash and Pexels under the title "woman wearing a blue denim jacket" and has been downloaded more than 400,000 times worldwide.

"What madness is this!"—Nery shocked by fame in India

Neri took the photo for a friend's portfolio and had no idea that years later it would emerge as an international political controversy.

On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi held a press conference where he alleged that the Election Commission of India was involved in widespread manipulation of voter lists.

Showing a photograph of the Brazilian woman, he claimed that she had voted 22 times in Haryana's Rai assembly constituency o 10 polling booths under different names, such as Seema, Sweety, Saraswati, Rashmi, and Vimla, at 10 different booths.

Calling it a "centralized operation," Gandhi alleged that the Election Commission's inaction was helping the BJP, which "turned a big victory for the Congress into a defeat."

Larissa Neri was shocked to see her old photo on Indian television screens. She released a video that quickly went viral in India and Brazil.

In the video, she expressed her surprise, saying, "Guys, they're using an old photo of mine. I was 18 or 20 years old then. I don't even know if this is an election or something related to voting... and that too in India! They're portraying me as Indian to deceive people. What madness! What nonsense!"

However, in her Instagram story, she jokingly expressed her joy at this newfound fame: "Wow, this is amazing! I'm famous in India as the 'mysterious Brazilian model'!"

In another video in Portuguese, Neri expressed her amazement at how a simple photo led to media calls and interview requests, and now her friends are sending her screenshots of Indian news channels.

"What a mess I've gotten myself into," she said.

A Brazilian model just found out her photo was used on fake Indian voter IDs.

Larissa Rocha Silva’s 2021 pic appeared 22 times — under names like Seema and Saraswati.

Rahul Gandhi claims 25 lakh fake votes helped BJP win Haryana by just 22,000 votes.

Larissa’s response (in… pic.twitter.com/DHzAwO0TfS

— ExtraOrdinary (@Extreo_) November 5, 2025

Election Commission sources questioned the Congress's allegations, asking why the Congress party’s polling agents didn't immediately raise objections to the duplicate voters and did so on the eve of election day.

One official said they should have challenged the voter's identity if they had any doubts.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju dismissed these allegations as "fake issues." He said that Rahul Gandhi was trying to "divert attention" from the Bihar elections and that "there is always a difference between election projections and actual results—this is nothing new."

From an innocent photoshoot in Belo Horizonte to the centre of a political controversy in India, Larissa Nery has unwittingly become the face of the debate over voter roll integrity and digital misinformation.

READ MORE: Bihar Elections: Voters to decide fate of many bigwigs in first phase

The truth behind this controversy will only be revealed through investigation, but Larissa Nery has certainly become an international celebrity overnight.