US President Donald Trump has been touting India’s election system as a mannequin for harder voter-identification guidelines in america that he’s making an attempt to drive by means of within the face of political opposition.
In a Fact Social publish on Monday, the US president stated India’s Chief Election Commissioner had requested his administration how the US may maintain elections and not using a legitimate photograph ID.
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“India’s final election had 646,000,000 voters! Lower than 1 p.c voted by mail, and each single voter needed to have a legitimate photograph identification doc,” he stated.
The US president used the comparability to resume his push for Congress to go the SAVE America Act, laws that will require individuals registering to vote in federal elections to supply documentary proof of US citizenship and impose stricter voter-ID necessities.
Whereas India’s elections are the world’s largest and are broadly admired for their scale, complexity and effectivity, its election course of has additionally confronted scrutiny over electoral rolls, marketing campaign malpractices, and more and more, issues over the independence of establishments underneath Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
So, how clear are India’s elections, what does the nation’s expertise actually inform us, and do voter IDs finish electoral malpractices?
What’s the Save America Act, and why is it controversial?
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE America Act, is a voting invoice backed by Trump.
The model handed by the Republican-controlled Home of Representatives in February would require individuals registering to vote in federal elections to supply documentary proof of US citizenship, reminiscent of a delivery certificates or passport.
It will additionally impose stricter identification necessities for individuals casting ballots, whether or not in particular person or by mail. Supporters argue that robust documentation necessities would assist safeguard the election.
Nonetheless, non-citizens voting in US federal and state elections is already unlawful, whereas Trump’s claims that widespread voter fraud exists haven’t been supported by any significant proof.
Analysis performed by New York-based Brennan Heart for Justice discovered that almost all reported incidents of voter fraud have been largely a results of clerical errors or dangerous data-matching practices.
The report reviewed elections that had been “meticulously” studied for voter fraud and located incident charges between 0.0003 p.c and 0.0025 p.c.
Critics have stated the invoice could be tantamount to widespread voter disenfranchisement and would negatively have an effect on voter turnout.
In the meantime, Democratic politicians say the Trump administration is utilizing the invoice to affect the end result of the upcoming midterm elections, the place Republicans are anticipated to defend their razor-thin majority within the Home of Representatives.
How do India’s elections and voter IDs work?
The Election Fee of India (ECI) is the constitutional authority that oversees elections throughout the nation. Through the 2024 common election, almost 970 million individuals have been registered to vote. Greater than 640 million of them really voted in what was the biggest election in historical past.
Being probably the most populated nation on the planet, India holds elections over a number of weeks. The final common election was performed in seven phases, with voters electing members of the Lok Sabha, India’s decrease home of parliament.
Voter photograph identification was launched by the ECI in 1993 to “stop impersonation” and as a part of its effort to strengthen election administration.
India additionally maintains detailed electoral rolls, which decide who’s eligible to vote in a selected constituency.
Previous to voting day, the ECI asks voters to examine that their names seem on the electoral roll.
Does India have any mail-in voting?
Sure, India does have postal ballots, however solely sure voters can entry them.
In keeping with the election fee web site, voters can submit their vote on an “electronically acquired postal poll from their most well-liked location” outdoors of their assigned voting constituency, and “ship again the marked postal poll by means of the publish”.
These eligible to vote embody service sector employees reminiscent of members of the police and armed forces, people on election obligation, in addition to these underneath trial however but to be convicted – all people who can’t be of their constituency to vote on election day due to circumstances past their management.
Have voter IDs eradicated fraud in Indian elections?
India’s opposition has constantly raised issues over alleged election malpractices in each common and regional elections.
In August 2025, Congress Get together’s Rahul Gandhi alleged fraud within the 2024 common election, accusing the ECI of including fraudulent voters to electoral rolls in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency.
In information conferences held in massive halls, Gandhi confirmed a number of cases the place the identical voter appeared to have a number of voter IDs – in idea probably permitting one particular person to solid multiple vote.
Gandhi stated the claims have been based mostly on six months of analysis and challenged the fee to launch digital voter rolls and CCTV footage to disprove them.
The federal government rejected the allegations, however didn’t settle for Gandhi’s problem to launch particulars that will show or disprove his accusations.
Later that yr in November, the Congress Get together alleged that greater than 2.5 million votes had been “stolen” through the 2024 Haryana state election. In keeping with India’s greatest opposition get together, irregularities have been present in voter information, together with equivalent images showing on a number of voter IDs.
Have Modi’s insurance policies cleaned up elections – or cleaned out opposition voters?
Whereas proof of widespread voter fraud stays scant, analysts and rights teams argue the give attention to voter ID in India misses a extra elementary drawback: who will get to vote and who doesn’t.
In October, the ECI launched the controversial Particular Intensive Revision (SIR), backed by the Modi authorities however opposed by almost all opposition events. The nationwide train goals to determine deceased, duplicate and in any other case ineligible voters on the electoral rolls.
In Bihar final yr, nearly 80 million registered voters got solely weeks to confirm their eligibility, with many requested to supply paperwork reminiscent of delivery certificates, passports or faculty information.
In September, the ECI launched an inventory of 74.2 million voters after eradicating the names of 4.7 million individuals.
“The current authorities and the ECI are selecting who among the many inhabitants ought to stay as voters,” political economist and creator Parakala Prabhakar instructed Al Jazeera. “This quantities to authorities selecting the voters slightly than the voters selecting the federal government.”
In April 2026, about 9 million individuals in West Bengal – almost 12 p.c of the state’s 76 million registered voters – misplaced their voting rights following the completion of the SIR course of within the state.
Of these, almost six million have been categorized as absent or deceased. One other three million have been unable to vote as a result of there was inadequate time for particular tribunals to listen to their instances earlier than the election.
Rights activists and election observers declare the train disproportionately disenfranchises marginalised teams.
Of the deleted names, 34 p.c of the voters have been Muslim, regardless of being solely 27 p.c of the state’s complete inhabitants, in accordance to media outlet The Hindu. Whereas 63 p.c of deletions comprised Hindu voters, lots of them included members of the Matua neighborhood, a sect of the marginalised Dalit group, who reside largely in areas bordering Bangladesh.
“In India, the continued effort by means of SIR is to exclude sections which can be inimical to the Hindu Majoritarian agenda,” economist Prabhakar stated.
“On the finish of this train, India can have two lessons of Indians: one with franchise, the opposite with out franchise,” he added.
“Whereas another polities selected to bodily cleanse their political methods by shedding blood, India underneath Modi is experimenting with a cold approach, by depriving the ‘different’ of their franchise.”
