Overview
- India Today reported a Haryana voter record for a deceased woman, Guniya, displaying the same image, and her family shared a death certificate.
- The woman in the picture, identified as Brazilian hairdresser and influencer Larissa Nery, said she has never been to India and that her old photo was used without her involvement.
- The image comes from a 2017 shoot and was posted to free stock platforms Unsplash and Pexels, where it has been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times.
- Photographer Matheus Ferrero said he faced harassment and hacking attempts after the controversy and deactivated his Instagram account.
- Rahul Gandhi alleged a ‘centralised operation’ and 25 lakh suspect entries, citing the face appearing 22 times, while the Election Commission publicly questioned his evidence and why Congress agents did not flag such cases during revisions.