YTC Ventures | Technocrat Magazine
November 5, 2025
In a bombshell revelation that has sent shockwaves through India’s political corridors, Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission of India (ECI) of orchestrating large-scale voter fraud in the 2024 Haryana Assembly elections. Dubbed the “H-bomb” or “hydrogen bomb” by Gandhi himself, the allegations center on what he calls “Vote Chori” (vote theft), with a particularly bizarre and tech-savvy twist: the use of a stock photo of an unidentified Brazilian model to fabricate 22 voter entries across multiple polling booths.
The ‘H-Bomb’ Explodes: 25 Lakh Fake Votes in Haryana?
Gandhi, addressing a packed press conference at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in New Delhi today, laid bare what he described as irrefutable evidence of systemic electoral manipulation.
Haryana, with an electorate of approximately 2 crore, saw the BJP clinch a historic third consecutive term by winning 48 out of 90 seats—defying pre-poll surveys that predicted a Congress landslide. Gandhi claimed this outcome was no accident but the result of a “centralized operation” to stuff ballot boxes with fraudulent votes.Key figures from Gandhi’s exposé, which he branded as the “H Files,” paint a damning picture:
- 25 lakh fake voters: Equivalent to 12.5% of Haryana’s total electorate.
- 5.21 lakh duplicates: Identical entries repeated across rolls.
- 93,174 invalid entries: Voters listed with impossible details, such as living at “House No. 0.”
- 19.26 lakh bulk voters: Suspicious clusters of registrations in single locations.
“This is why Congress lost by just 22,000 votes despite leading in every projection,” Gandhi thundered, urging India’s Gen Z to wake up to the “death of democracy.” He further alleged that 3.5 lakh legitimate entries were mysteriously deleted from the rolls in the lead-up to the polls, tilting the scales in favor of the ruling party.
The Brazilian Model Enigma: From Stock Photo to Haryana Voter
At the heart of Gandhi’s presentation was a single, striking image—a young woman with a serene smile, her photo splashed across a projector screen. “Who is this lady? What is her name? Where does she come from?” Gandhi asked rhetorically. “But she voted 22 times in Haryana, at 10 different booths, under multiple names: Seema, Sweety, Saraswati, Rashmi, Vimla.”The twist? This isn’t some local resident but a stock photograph snapped by Brazilian photographer Matheus Ferrero, freely available on platforms like Unsplash.
The image, which has racked up millions of downloads globally, was allegedly repurposed to create phantom voters. Congress shared the photo on X (formerly Twitter), captioning it: “A Brazilian citizen voted in 22 names in Haryana—from Sweety to Saraswati.”This isn’t an isolated case. Gandhi highlighted another instance where one woman’s photo appeared 100 times in a single assembly segment and up to 223 times statewide. Such digital sleight-of-hand points to sophisticated fraud, possibly leveraging basic photo-editing tools and lax verification in voter enrollment apps like cVIGIL.
Technological Underpinnings: A Hack on Democracy?
From a technocratic lens, this scandal underscores the vulnerabilities in India’s electoral infrastructure. The ECI’s voter rolls are digitized via the Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) system, but as Gandhi noted, parties often receive final lists “at the very last minute,” leaving little room for scrutiny. Bulk uploads and automated verifications, while efficient, are ripe for exploitation—especially when stock images from global databases slip through facial recognition filters.Experts have long warned of these risks.
AI-driven deepfakes and image manipulation tools like Photoshop or even free apps could scale such fraud exponentially. In Haryana, discrepancies between postal ballots (which favored BJP) and booth votes further fuel suspicions of algorithmic interference or server-side tampering. Gandhi’s team claims to have cross-referenced rolls with Aadhaar and PAN data, uncovering mismatches that scream “planned operation.
“Yet, the ECI pushes back hard. Sources within the commission dismissed the claims, pointing out zero formal appeals against the rolls and only 22 pending election petitions in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. “Polling agents are there to object on the spot,” an ECI official retorted, questioning Congress’s vigilance during voting.
They also defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, which aims to purge duplicates and deceased voters—ironically, the very tool Gandhi accuses of enabling deletions.
Haryana Voter Anomaly Table: Claims vs. Misleading Context
| Alleged Anomaly | Congress Claim | Misleading or Contextual Reality |
|---|---|---|
| 25 lakh fake voters | 12.5% of total electorate; includes stock photos | Based on internal analysis; ECI says no formal complaints filed; SIR process removes duplicates annually. |
| Brazilian model photo | Used for 22 voters across 10 booths | Photo from Unsplash; names differ—likely data entry errors or BOOTH-level mismatches, not proven votes cast. |
| 5.21 lakh duplicates | Identical entries repeated | Common in large databases; ECI uses de-duplication software; no evidence of actual double voting. |
| 93,174 “House No. 0” entries | Invalid addresses indicate fraud | Legacy data from pre-GIS era; many corrected during revision; not all active voters. |
| 3.5 lakh deletions | Legitimate voters removed to favor BJP | ECI: Standard cleanup of deceased/shifted voters; Congress had BLO access to verify. |
| 19.26 lakh bulk registrations | Suspicious clusters in single locations | Often family units or apartments; no proof of fictitious identities. |
Political Fallout: A Call to Arms for Digital Democracy
The BJP, predictably, has labeled this a “desperate Congress circus.” Union Minister Kiren Rijiju took a swipe, referencing a prior presser where a woman whose photo Gandhi used called him out. But the allegations have ignited a firestorm on social media, with #VoteChori trending and memes of the “Brazilian Saraswati” flooding timelines. As Haryana’s results stand unchallenged legally—for now—this could galvanize opposition pushes for electoral reforms, including blockchain-based voting or mandatory biometric checks.For technocrats, it’s a stark reminder:
In an era where a single pixel can sway polls, safeguarding democracy demands ironclad digital fortresses. Rahul Gandhi’s H-bomb may or may not topple governments, but it has undeniably exposed the fragile code beneath India’s ballot box.
As he wrapped up: “India’s youth must understand—this is theft, not democracy.”
Technocrat Magazine will continue monitoring developments. Have insights on electoral tech? Reach us at technocrat@ytcventures.com
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