‘Brazilian Model’ Voter ID Mystery Rocks Haryana Polls: Rahul Gandhi’s Shocking Revelation

NEW DELHI- In a bombshell disclosure that has ignited a firestorm over electoral integrity, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi spotlighted a bizarre anomaly in the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections: a single stock photograph of a Brazilian model allegedly appearing on at least 22 voter IDs across one constituency, raising grave suspicions of widespread identity fraud.

During a high-octane press conference, Gandhi brandished samples of voter cards from the Rai Assembly segment, where the image of a woman in a blue denim jacket—captured in Brazil eight years ago—showed up under diverse names like Seema, Sweety, Saraswati, Rashmi, and Vimla.

These entries spanned 10 polling booths, with Gandhi alleging the photo enabled one fake identity to cast multiple votes, potentially up to 100 times, while creating slots for unauthorized out-of-state voters.

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“This isn’t a glitch; it’s a blueprint for stealing democracy,” Gandhi thundered, questioning how a woman “who’s never set foot in Haryana” could “vote 22 times” in the state. He urged an urgent probe into the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) voter roll verification, claiming the anomaly points to a deliberate scheme to inflate turnout and sway results.

Reverse image forensics traced the photo to Brazilian photographer Matheus Ferrero’s March 2, 2017, shoot in Belo Horizonte. Uploaded to stock site Unsplash as “Woman Wearing Blue Denim Jacket,” it amassed over 59 million views and 421,000 downloads before the listing vanished amid the uproar. The image has since surfaced on platforms like Pexels and even fueled bogus social media personas aping the model and photographer.

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Gandhi’s expose extended to a more alarming find: the same photo duplicated 223 times across just two booths in Haryana, suggesting a systemic lapse or sabotage in the voter database. He accused the ECI of stonewalling data requests and purging duplicates only post-election, demanding transparency on how such errors evaded pre-poll scrutiny.

The revelation has drawn swift rebuttals from those named in the cards. Pinky Juginder Kaushik, a Machroli village resident in Sonipat whose ID bore the disputed photo, vehemently denied any foul play. “I voted myself in 2024 using my Aadhaar and slip—the card was just a misprint,” she told media, blaming booth-level officers for sloppy data entry. Her brother-in-law echoed the sentiment, calling it “pure propaganda” and noting repeated failed attempts to fix the error.

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Munish Devi’s family, also implicated, insisted on legitimate voting from their ancestral home. “She cast her vote fairly; no theft here,” her brother-in-law affirmed, revealing an election office call on the day of Gandhi’s address seeking the card for checks. He cited a prior village case with a mismatched neighbor’s photo, framing it as clerical oversight rather than conspiracy.

The ECI dismissed the furor, pointing to the Special Intensive Revision drive that weeded out duplicates, including for the deceased or migrants. Officials questioned Congress agents’ silence during polling and noted no formal pre-election challenges to the rolls, with just 22 related petitions pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

As the ‘Brazilian model’ saga spirals, it underscores vulnerabilities in India’s digital voter ecosystem, with calls growing for forensic audits of photo verification protocols. Gandhi vowed courtroom battles, while skeptics warn the episode risks eroding faith in the ballot box. For now, one enigmatic image from halfway across the world has become the unlikely face of Haryana’s electoral enigma.