After Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged large-scale voter fraud in Haryana, including claims that a Brazilian model’s image was used multiple times on voter identity cards, India Today traced one of the women whose voter IDs were circulated as part of the controversy. She firmly denied any wrongdoing, calling the “vote chori” allegations baseless. The woman involved said she personally casts her vote and blamed data-entry errors for the photo mismatches. Her family, too, rejected the claims as political propaganda.
‘I Cast My Vote Myself’
Speaking exclusively to India Today, Pinky Juginder Kaushik, one of the women whose voter ID allegedly carried an image resembling the Brazilian model, clarified that there had long been a photo misprint on her voter card.
“I went myself to cast my vote in 2024. There’s no vote chori here,” Pinky said. “When I had applied for my voter card, it first arrived with a photo misprint, it had the picture of a woman from my village. We immediately returned it, but we still haven’t received a corrected copy. I cast my vote in the 2024 election using my voter slip and Aadhaar card.”
Pinky added, “The error must be on the part of the BLO or the election office. How is it my fault? When the mistake first happened, we had already requested rectification.”
Her brother-in-law also dismissed the voter fraud allegations as “propaganda,” insisting she personally voted and that “the mistake wasn’t from our side.”
“Error From Data Operators, Not Us”
India Today also spoke to the brother-in-law of Munish Devi, another woman whose voter ID was allegedly linked to the same model’s photo. He confirmed that Munish and her family have been voting from their ancestral home in Machroli village, though they now live in Sonipat.
“I got a call from the election office today; they asked me to send Munish’s voter card, and I have sent it,” he said. “I brought my mother and sister-in-law to cast their votes together. She cast her own vote in 2024. There’s no vote chori.”
He added, “There’s nothing like that. Even the agents know we came to cast our own votes. This problem had happened once before, Munish’s photo was swapped incorrectly, showing another woman from our village. The error is from the data operators, not us.”
