US President Donald Trump has touted India’s electoral system as a model for stricter voter identification rules in the US, which he is trying to impose over political opposition.
In a post on Truth Social on Monday, the US president said India’s chief election official asked the government how the US could hold elections without a valid photo ID.
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“There were 646 million voters in India’s last election! Less than 1 per cent voted by post and all voters had to have a valid photo ID,” he said.
The US president used this comparison to renew his push for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, a law that would require people registering to vote in federal elections to provide documentary proof of US citizenship and impose stricter voter ID requirements.
India’s elections are the world’s largest, and while they are widely praised for their size, complexity and efficiency, the electoral process has also faced increased scrutiny over irregularities in the electoral register and campaigning, as well as growing concerns about the independence of the system under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
So how clean are India’s elections, what does the country’s experience really tell us, and can voter ID eradicate election fraud?
What is the Save America Act? Why is it controversial?
The SAVE America Act is a voting bill supported by President Trump.
The bill, passed by the Republican-controlled House in February, would require people registering to vote in federal elections to provide proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport.
It would also impose stricter identification requirements on people casting ballots, whether in person or by mail. Supporters argue that strong documentation requirements will help protect elections.
However, it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in U.S. federal and state elections, and President Trump’s claims that there is widespread voter fraud are not supported by meaningful evidence.
A study conducted by the New York-based Brennan Center for Justice found that most reported incidents of voter fraud were primarily the result of clerical errors and poor data matching practices.
The report looked at elections that were investigated “with great care” for voter fraud and found the incidence of fraud to be between 0.0003 percent and 0.0025 percent.
Critics say the bill amounts to widespread voter disenfranchisement and will negatively impact voter turnout.
Meanwhile, Democratic politicians say the Trump administration is using the bill to influence the outcome of the upcoming midterm elections, in which Republicans are expected to maintain their majority in the House.
How do elections and voter ID work in India?
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional authority that oversees elections across India. Approximately 970 million people were registered to vote in the 2024 general election. More than 640 million of them actually voted in the largest election in history.
India, the world’s most populous country, will hold elections over several weeks. The last general election was held in seven phases, in which voters elected members of India’s Lok Sabha.
Photo identity cards for voters were introduced by the ECI in 1993 as part of “anti-identification” and strengthening election administration.
India also maintains a detailed electoral roll that determines who is eligible to vote in a particular constituency.
Before polling day, the ECI asks voters to verify that their names appear in the electoral roll.
Does India have postal voting?
Yes, India has postal ballots, but only certain voters can access them.
Voters can submit their votes outside of their assigned precinct with a “mail-in ballot received electronically from a location of their choice” and “return the marked mail-in ballot by mail,” according to the election board’s website.
Those eligible to vote include workers in service sectors such as the police and military, individuals on election duty, and those on trial but not yet convicted, i.e. all individuals who are unable to go to the polls on voting day due to circumstances beyond their control.
Did voter ID eliminate fraud in Indian elections?
Opposition parties in India have consistently raised concerns about allegations of electoral fraud in both general and local elections.
In August 2025, Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party alleged fraud in the 2024 general elections and accused the ECI of including fraudulent voters in the electoral rolls of Karnataka’s Mahadevapura constituency.
At a press conference held in the Great Hall, Gandhi cited multiple instances in which the same voter appeared to have multiple voter IDs, saying it could theoretically be possible for one person to cast multiple votes.
Mr Gandhi said these claims were based on a six-month investigation and challenged the commission to release electronic voter rolls and CCTV footage to disprove them.
The government rejected the allegations but did not accept Gandhi’s challenge to provide details that would confirm or disprove his accusations.
Later that year, in November, the Congress party claimed that more than 2.5 million votes were “stolen” from the 2024 Haryana elections. According to India’s main opposition party, irregularities were found in voter records, including the same photo appearing on multiple voter cards.
Did Mr. Modi’s policies wipe out the election or wipe out opposition voters?
While evidence of widespread voter fraud remains scant, analysts and human rights groups argue that focusing on voter ID in India misses the more fundamental question of who can and cannot vote.
In October, the ECI launched the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which was supported by the Modi government but opposed by almost all opposition parties. The nationwide exercise aims to identify deceased voters, duplicate voters and other ineligible voters on the electoral register.
Nearly 80 million registered voters in Bihar last year were given only a few weeks to verify their eligibility, and many were asked to submit documents such as birth certificates, passports and school records.
In September, the ECI released a list of 74.2 million voters with 4.7 million names removed.
Political economist and author Parakala Prabhakar told Al Jazeera: “The current government and the ECI are choosing who should remain as voters among the people.” “This means that instead of voters choosing the government, the government chooses the voters.”
In April 2026, approximately 9 million people in West Bengal (nearly 12 percent of the state’s 76 million registered voters) lost their right to vote with the completion of the SIR process in West Bengal.
About 6 million of them were classified as missing or dead. Another 3 million people were unable to vote because there was not enough time for special courts to hear their cases before the election.
Rights activists and election observers say the movement unfairly disenfranchises marginalized groups.
Of the names removed, 34% of the voters were Muslim, despite making up only 27% of the state’s total population, according to media outlet The Hindu. Sixty-three percent of the removals were made up of Hindu voters, many of whom included members of the Matua community, a sect of marginalized Dalit groups who live primarily in areas bordering Bangladesh.
“In India, the ongoing effort through SIR is to eliminate the harmful parts of Hindu majoritarian politics,” economist Prabhakar said.
“At the end of this exercise, there will be two classes of Indians in India – one with franchises and one without franchises,” he added.
“While some other political groups have chosen to physically cleanse their political systems by shedding blood, India under Modi is experimenting with a bloodless method of disenfranchising the ‘other’.”
