Confused Indians Flood Larissa Bonesi’s Social Media After Rahul Gandhi’s Allegation, Despite Actual Model Speaking Out
A major case of mistaken identity has erupted online after Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, alleged ‘vote chori’ in the Haryana elections using the repeated image of an unnamed Brazilian model in voter rolls.
Many social media users have mistakenly identified the woman in question as Brazilian actor and model Larissa Bonesi, the rumoured girlfriend of filmmaker Aryan Khan, leading to a flurry of comments on her Instagram posts.
Larissa Bonesi’s Instagram Flooded
Larissa Bonesi, who has worked in the Indian film industry for over a decade and was recently seen with Aryan Khan at the premiere of his debut web series, has not responded to the confusion. However, her most recent posts have been inundated with messages:
- Many Indians are congratulating her for her ‘newfound fame’ in Indian politics.
- Comments include messages like, “You are famous in India,” and “Congratulations to Indian citizenship.”
- Other users have jokingly referred to her as a ‘BJP voter from Brazil’.
The Actual ‘Brazilian Model’ Speaks Out
The actual woman whose photo was displayed by Rahul Gandhi has been identified as Larissa Nery, a Brazilian hairdresser and former model from Belo Horizonte. The confusion appears to be due to the similar names.
- Larissa Nery has since taken to her own Instagram to address the unexpected attention.
- She reposted screenshots of Rahul Gandhi’s presentation and shared a video expressing her shock, clarifying that the photo was an old stock image from her early modelling days and that she has “absolutely nothing to do with politics in India” and has “never even been to India.”
- Despite Nery’s clarification, many confused Indian social media users continue to target the more popular Larissa Bonesi.
Rahul Gandhi’s Allegations
During his press conference on Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi claimed the recurring image was evidence of a “centralised operation” to manipulate the 2024 Haryana Assembly election results.
He alleged that the same Brazilian model’s image appeared 22 times across 10 polling booths in Haryana under different names, including Seema, Sweety, and Saraswati, and claimed her photo was fed into the electoral list at a central level.