By KUNAL CHATTERJEE
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s explosive charge of large-scale voter list manipulation in Haryana has sparked a bitter political confrontation. At a press conference in Delhi on Wednesday, the Leader of Opposition alleged that a Brazilian model’s photo was used 22 times in the Rai Assembly constituency’s voter list under different names.
Rahul claimed that of the two crore registered voters in Haryana, at least 25 lakhs were fake, asserting that the BJP’s victory relied on “manufactured votes. The Congress has projected the claim as proof of systemic rigging, with Rahul describing it as part of his promised “H-bomb” expose on electoral fraud.
The allegation has revived debate on the transparency of India’s voter database and verification mechanisms. Election experts see the controversy as a test for the Election Commission, which faces renewed opposition scrutiny.
The BJP, however, dismissed Rahul’s statements as politically motivated and factually weak. Party spokespersons accused him of attempting to divert attention from Congress’s internal disarray and poor electoral performance in recent state polls. Haryana BJP leaders said the claim was “absurd and desperate,” emphasizing that voter lists are maintained by the Election Commission, not political parties. “Rahul Gandhi is trying to manufacture sensationalism when he has run out of issues. The BJP has no role in preparing or revising voter rolls,” one senior BJP spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, Larissa, the Brazilian model whose old modelling photo allegedly appeared across 22 voter IDs, posted two videos clarifying that she had no link to Indian politics and had never visited India. She said her photograph had likely been bought from a media outlet. Though amused by the attention from India, Larissa’s response has inadvertently turned a local electoral question into an international headline.
