Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote chori’ Hydrogen bomb defused: From alleged vote theft in Haryana to using a Brazilian model’s photo, every claim debunked
In his bid to push the fake ‘Vote Chori’ narrative, Rahul Gandhi finds creative ways to embarrass the Congress party. After the Congress prince’s ‘Vote Chori’ press conference in August this year failed to sow distrust in people against the Election Commission, Rahul Gandhi on 5th November put up another show to drop the so-called ‘Hydrogen Bomb’. However, multiple fact-checks have debunked the lies peddled by Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress MP claimed that the 2024 Haryana assembly elections were “stolen”. He cited several examples to back his claim, including that of a house in the Hodal area of Palwal district. with 66 voters and another with 501. The Leader of Opposition (LoP) also claimed that in the Sonipat district’s Rai, a stock image of a Brazilian national, Larresa, was used to cast votes 22 times at 10 booths.
“She has got multiple names, Seema, Sweety, Saraswati, Rashmi, Vimla,” Rahul Gandhi said.
However, every claim of the Gandhi scion has been found devoid of any factual merit.
Vote Chori in Hodal?
During the press conference, Rahul Gandhi claimed that in the Palwal district’s Hodal, “We found 66 voters registered in a house belonging to a BJP zila parishad vice-chairperson, and 501 voters in a house which could not be found.”
The house Rahul Gandhi mentioned is in the Gurdhana village in Hodal. Rajpal Gurdhana, the uncle of BJP Zila Parishad vice-chairperson, Umesh Gurdhana, told Indian Express that 66 voters Rahul Gandhi mentioned in his presser are all his relatives who reside on the same plot of land.
“My father, along with his three brothers, shifted to Gudhrana from the nearby Siha village around 80 years ago, and all of them got married and started their families. We had 10 acres of land, where we used to stay on five acres and do farming on the rest. This is the oldest pucca house, built in 1986 – House Number 150,” Rajpal Said.
He added that with a growing family, individual houses were constructed to accommodate increasing family members on the five acres of land. However, all are identified with a common house number.
“Four generations of our family live together. There is no question of vote theft. My voter ID was made in 2009, and whoever from my family gets a voter ID made, the BLO writes the address as House Number 150 only,” Umesh Gurdhana told IE.
Similar is the truth of House Number 265, mentioned by Rahul Gandhi, wherein he alleged 501 voters were illegally registered.
This address houses eight members of the Sorout family. A Ram Sorout, a resident of the address, said that his great-grandfather had 25-30 acres of land in the village, which the family divided into plots and gradually sold off.
Ram Sorout’s son, Pawan Sorout, said that at present, 200 houses and three private schools are situated on the piece of land in question. He added that all voters here have 256 as their registered house number.
However, one Shyamwati Singh, who is not associated with the Sorout family, also has her house number registered as 265. Residing with her husband and two children, Shyamwati Singh said that her family bought a piece of land here in 2013, adding that since the,n they have been voting in elections with this address.
Thus, Rahul Gandhi’s claim that fake voters have been registered at the same address in Hodal is false. While multiple voters are indeed registered on a single house address, they are not fake or illegal voters. The Congress leader essentially revealed only half-truths, which suited his ‘Vote Chori’ narrative.
Brazilian model’s stock photo used to cast multiple fake votes?
During his press conference on 5th November, Rahul Gandhi displayed a photograph of a Brazilian model, claiming that it appeared 22 times on the Haryana electoral rolls. The women whose photographs on the voter roll, Rahul Gandhi claimed, were those of a Brazilian model, “Matheus Ferorro”, confirmed that they have voted without incident and have not faced any issues while voting in the 2024 Haryana elections. In media interactions, these women showed their voter identification cards and slips issued by the ECI, confirming that they have participated in elections without fail, and the photo of the Brazilian model is wrong.
Brazilian influencer Larissa and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (Images via X)
One of the women, Pinki, a resident of Macchraula village, did have an issue related to the image; however, it was not connected with the Brazilian model Rahul Gandhi talked about. She told IE that after moving to Delhi in 2016, she received her voter ID card with a wrong photo, but that was of another resident of her village and not any model.
Interestingly, Rahul Gandhi only picked constituencies to highlight alleged discrepancies and anomalies where his party’s candidate lost the election. In Hodal, Congress’s Uday Bhan lost to BJP’s Harinder Singh. In Rai, Jai Congress’s Jai Bhagwan Antil lost to the BJP candidate. The Congress prince did not find any such alleged irregularities in seats where his party’s candidate won.
Rahul Gandhi cries ‘vote chori’ after Congress lost Haryana despite leading in postal ballots: OpIndia debunked his lies
On 5th November, Rahul Gandhi claimed that “vote chori” or theft of votes happened in seats where Congress led in postal ballots but lost in the final results. His claims were based on a simple fact that on some seats, Congress was ahead of the BJP in the postal ballot counting, but when counting for the voting that happened via Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) occurred, the BJP defeated Congress.
OpIndia examined the final results of all the assembly seats for the Haryana state elections 2024 and found that there were four seats where the BJP took the lead in postal ballots but lost the final tally.
According to the data available on the Election Commission’s website, in Julana, Hathin, Nangal Chaudhry and Adampur, the BJP was ahead of Congress in postal ballots. However, the party eventually lost the final count to Congress.
Voter Anjali Tyagi featured in Rahul Gandhi’s ‘H-files’ presentation, says no “vote chori”, video misused: OpIndia ground report busted Congress’s lies
In another round of peddling lies that cast aspersions on the integrity of the Election Commission and undermine Indian democracy, Rahul Gandhi, in his press conference on Wednesday, presented a series of video clips and anecdotes to claim large-scale manipulation in the Haryana Assembly Elections 2024. Among the videos featured was that of Anjali Tyagi, a voter from Haryana, which Gandhi cited as proof of voter suppression.
However, just hours after his press conference, Tyagi herself came forward in an exclusive conversation with OpIndia’s Keshav Malan to categorically deny Gandhi’s allegations, asserting that her experience had been misrepresented and that her vote was “missed, not stolen.”
Gandhi had included Tyagi’s video in his slideshow to allege widespread voter fraud, suggesting that votes were manipulated to sway the election results.
However, speaking to OpIndia, Tyagi clarified that her experience did not align with Gandhi’s narrative. She stated that her vote might have been missed due to administrative errors rather than stolen, directly challenging the opposition leader’s assertions. Tyagi’s denial is significant as it undermines the core of Gandhi’s allegations, which were part of a broader strategy to question the integrity of the electoral process in Haryana.
Anjali Tyagi further expressed her belief that her video was misrepresented, suggesting it was used out of context to support a false narrative of voter fraud. “I believe my video was incorrectly presented,” Anjali said in conversation with OpIndia.
Rahul Gandhi claimed photograph of a Brazilian model used in Haryana elections for multiple voters: Neither the model’s name nor his photo misuse claim turned out to be true
In the ‘H-Files’ presentation, Rahul Gandhi displayed a picture of a Brazilian model claiming that her name is Matheus Ferroro and said that this model has sometimes voted as Seema, sometimes as Sweety, and sometimes as Saraswati.
However, it turned out that the model’s name is not Mathews Ferrero, but of the photographer who took the photo. The photo can be found on the photographer’s profile on Unsplash and Pexels. The real name of the model is Larissa, and she has denied any involvement in Indian politics at all.
As her Instagram profile got flooded with comments and messages from Indian users after Rahul Gandhi displayed her picture in his ‘Hydrogen Bomb’ gimmick, Larissa put out a video refuting Gandhi’s claims.
“Welcome, my Indian followers, to my Instagram! It seems I’ve gained many Indian followers now. People were commenting on my photos as if I was elected! Folks, let me tell you the gossip. You’re laughing too much, aren’t you? I’m going to tell the gossip. Folks, they are using an old photo of mine…Just to be clear, it wasn’t me, it was only my photo, I have absolutely nothing to do with politics in India. My photo was purchased from a stock image platform and used without my involvement. It’s one of my old pictures from when I was about 20 or 18 years old,” Larissa Nery said in Portuguese.
“The use of my picture… I don’t know if this is an election or something else where voting is necessary. And… in India… really?? They are portraying me as an Indian woman to scam others, folks. It’s not me, I’ve never even been to India, I’m a Brazilian digital influencer and a hairdresser, and I love the Indian people,” she added.
Stunned by the sudden attention, social media chatter, and media calls for interviews, Larissa said, “Oh my god, how crazy. What madness is this, what world are we living in…”
The claims of the former model’s image being misused to cast ghost votes have already been debunked by several of the 22 women whose voter ID cards Gandhi displayed in his presser.
However, despite the Brazilian woman herself coming out and debunking Congress’s lies, the party leaders refuse to show even a shred of shame. Congress’s social media and digital platforms chairperson, Supriya Srinate, has published multiple X posts linking Larissa Nery to the fake ‘Vote Chori’ claim.
In one such post, she wrote, “Give the correct answer. Win a holiday package to Brazil from EC as a prize.” She attached an image of Larissa and asked, “Who is she?” and gave four options: Seema, Guniya, Saroj or none of the above.
Haryana CM slams Rahul Gandhi for quoting him out of context
Rahul Gandhi, during his address on 5th November, claimed that Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini had said in a press conference before the results that they had all the “arrangements”, hinting towards the theft of votes. He became a clip-cutter and shared a trimmed clip of Nayab Singh speaking at a press conference on 6th October 2024, two days before the elections.
In the video, CM Singh was heard saying, “BJP will form the government alone… We have all the arrangements.” Gandhi claimed that the “smile on his face” and the use of the word “vyavastha”, or “arrangement” in English, hinted towards the theft of votes. According to Rahul Gandhi, if a leader smiles before the election results, he must have done something wrong. He said, “This gentleman was very sure and is smiling that BJP has some ‘vyavastha’ that is going to show itself,” despite exit polls favouring Congress.
However, upon checking the full video, one comes to find the proper context of what CM Saini said and it is nowhere close to what Rahul Gandhi claimed during his press conference.
During a pre-result press conference, a reporter asked CM Singh if the BJP would choose an alliance with another party to form a government. In reply, he said, “We will not need any kind of alliance. I have said from the very beginning that the BJP will form the government alone. We have all the arrangements… I am confident that the BJP will alone form the government, but if we need that (alliance), we will give it a thought; we have all the arrangements.”
Hence, the claim made by Rahul Gandhi about Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh hinting at “vote chori” is false. The full video clearly shows that the Chief Minister was referring to the BJP’s internal preparedness and confidence in forming the government without any alliance, not to any manipulation of votes. Gandhi’s interpretation of the clip was misleading and based on an edited portion of the original statement.
Clearly, after manipulating electoral data, twisting facts to suit his ‘Vote Chori’ narrative, Rahul Gandhi is using edited videos out of context to lend credence to the propaganda public is not buying despite all his theatrics.
Saini has now slammed Rahul Gandhi for using his edited clip to push his 2024 Haryana election fraud propaganda. “Rahul Gandhi is lying. Four generations of his family have ruled this country, and yet he has to resort to lying,” CM Saini said.
Failed to stir outrage over the Lok Sabha election and Maharashtra assembly election results, Rahul Gandhi alleged vote chori in Haryana
This, however, is not the first time that the Congress party has used dubious sources and manipulated facts to peddle the vote theft bogey. In August 2025, Rahul Gandhi did a similar press conference alleging vote theft with the intention of stirring a massive outrage against the Election Commission. While Congress wanted to establish the narrative that somehow the ECI and the BJP are working in collusion to undermine India’s democracy, it turned out that Rahul Gandhi’s PPT was prepared in the country of Myanmar. A metadata analysis of the PDF files uploaded on the ‘vote chori’ website revealed that all three versions of Rahul Gandhi’s presentation have been created in the Myanmar Standard Time (MMT). Congress leaders and the IT cell rushed to counter these allegations; however, they failed to give a satisfactory rebuttal.
Not only the origins, but also the content of Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote chori’ presentation, are problematic. In fact, the 22-page presentation comes across as the Congress party’s desperate attempt at lending empirical credence to the rhetoric and theatrics it has been employing to push its “Hum hare nahi hain, hamein haraya gaya hai (we didn’t lose, we were deceitfully defeated)” narrative. OpIndia, however, reported how the ECI rebutted each and every allegation, be it inflated voter registration and turnout, foul play in the appointment of election commissioners, destruction of CCTV footage of the voting process or ECI’s outright refusal to share digital voter rolls, levelled by Rahul Gandhi.
During the August press conference, the Congress party cherry-picked cases involving management or technical issues and passed them off as proof of ‘vote chori’. This time, however, the party appeared more desperate than ever and resorted to peddling blatant lies.
Not to forget, in October, the Supreme Court rejected a petition which called for the establishment of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of vote theft. Rahul Gandhi had asserted irregularities in the voter list within the Mahadevapura assembly constituency in Bengaluru Central.
Rahul Gandhi made special mention of Karnataka’s Mahadevpura constituency to allege electoral fraud, saying that several voter entries in the voter list had “house number 0” and that numerous voters were listed at the same address during a press conference on 7th August. However, the ECI debunked his claims. Gandhi claimed that 80 fake voters were registered at one house in Mahadevpura, but it turned out that they were not fraudulent but migrant voters.
Gandhi had claimed that a house in Mahadevapura had 80 duplicate voters enrolled. But when local Booth Level Officer (BLO) Muniratna was approached, he informed that there was no duplication. The house in question has mostly been tenanted, and the tenants keep changing every year. No family has resided there permanently for the last 14 years. Most individuals use their rental contract as an address to vote, but end up leaving the place. Gandhi cherry-picked cases and passed them off as proof of vote chori since giving complete context that the houses he mentioned were tenanted and thus had multiple voters registered, many of whom had permanently shifted elsewhere, already were or set to be struck off from the electoral roll.
Interestingly, Rahul Gandhi had alleged ‘match-fixing’ even over the Maharashtra assembly elections of 2024, wherein the BJP registered a historic triumph. Voter inflation, voter turnout inflation, ECI destroying CCTV footage evident, ECI-BJP conspiracy and whatnot, the Congress party levelled every allegation it could think of to claim that the public’s mandate was stolen. The Election Commission, however, debunked each of these claims, and Congress failed to come up with any concrete counterargument. Even the Bombay High Court earlier dismissed a plea seeking to annul the November 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election results over alleged voting irregularities.
Congress flogging a dead horse to stir up Nepal-like ‘Gen-Z’ protests?
The Congress party has long been playing a Goebbelsian trick of repeating a lie until it becomes truth. Congress is clinging to the apocryphal narrative that the party and its media allies have concocted since their strategy is not to seek answers but only to keep repeating the same lies in the form of questions to keep the flame of ‘JanNayak fighting the system’ burning.
The successful Gen-Z protests in Nepal to topple the Oli government over corruption allegations have apparently given hope to the forever PM-in-waiting. This is why Gandhi has repeatedly been calling on the Indian Gen-Z to take note of his propaganda and perhaps hit the streets against the Modi government. The Indian Gen-Z and voters in general are, however, able to see through the lies being peddled by the Congress party.
From seeking foreign intervention in India’s internal affairs during his foreign trips to directly attacking the integrity of the Election Commission and transparency of the electoral processes, Rahul Gandhi and his party are undermining the very democracy they claim to defend.
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