Who is the Brazilian model whom Rahul Gandhi says voted 22 times in Haryana assembly election? | World News

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during a press conference, in New Delhi. (Source: PTI)

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday made a bombshell allegation that a photograph of a Brazilian model was used 22 times in the voter rolls of Haryana’s Rai assembly constituency, calling it evidence of a “centralised operation” to manipulate the 2024 assembly election results.

Displaying printouts of the electoral rolls during a press conference, Gandhi claimed the same image appeared across at least 10 booths in the constituency — under multiple names such as Seema, Sweety, Saraswati, Rashmi and Vilma.
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“Who is this lady? What is her name? Where does she come from? But she votes 22 times in Haryana,” Gandhi said, alleging that the Election Commission colluded with the BJP to rig the polls.

He then added, “She is from Brazil. She is a Brazilian model. That’s a stock photograph.”

He further claimed that 25 lakh entries in the state’s voter l were fake, citing data collected his team. “In one instance, a single photo was used for 223 votes,” Gandhi said, adding that the repeated image used in the rolls was that of a Brazilian model whose picture appeared alongside the name “Matheus Ferrero.”

Who is the Brazilian model?

A Google search with Matheus Ferrero name revealed that Ferrero is not a model but a Brazil-based photographer from Belo Horizonte, who uploads his work including portrait and fashion images on platforms like Unsplash.

While the model in the image remains unidentified, it is freely available for download on popular stock photography platforms such as Unsplash. According to Unsplash’s records, the photo was first published on March 2, 2017, making it at least eight years old.

The image has since become one of Ferrero’s most widely circulated works, having been downloaded over 400,000 times across websites. Though it is likely that the woman in the photo is also from Brazil, her identity and nationality have not been verified.

Gandhi’s allegations have reignited a political storm in Haryana ahead of the assembly polls, with the Congress accusing the ruling BJP of systematic voter manipulation and the BJP countering that Gandhi is “manufacturing conspiracy theories” to cover up internal disarray.