President Donald Trump is praising India's election system as a model for the voter ID rules he is trying to enact in the US, despite political opposition. In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump said the head of India's Election Commission asked his administration whether the US could hold elections without photo identification documents.
According to Trump, India's most recent election had 646 million voters, with less than 1% voting by mail, and every voter was required to have valid ID. He used this comparison to urge the US Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require citizens registering to vote in federal elections to provide proof of citizenship and comply with stricter ID requirements.
The SAVE America Act and Controversy
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, passed by the Republican-controlled House in February, requires voters registering to vote to provide a birth certificate or passport. Supporters argue it protects election security, while Democrats and critics call it a widespread voter suppression effort.
According to research by the Brennan Center for Justice in New York, voter fraud rates in the US range from 0.0003% to 0.0025%, mostly due to administrative errors. Non-citizens voting in federal elections is already illegal, and Trump's claims of widespread fraud have never been substantiated.
How India's Election System Works
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body that oversees elections nationwide. In the 2024 general election, nearly 970 million people were registered to vote, with over 640 million actually casting ballots—the largest election in history. India introduced photo voter ID cards in 1993 to combat impersonation, and maintains detailed voter rolls.
India also has mail-in voting, but only for military personnel, security forces, election officials, and those on trial but not yet convicted.
Fraud Allegations and the Real Issue
Despite its positive image, India has also faced fraud allegations. In August 2025, Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi accused the ECI of adding fake voters to the rolls in Karnataka, suggesting one person could have multiple IDs. The government denied it but did not release data to clarify. In November 2025, the party alleged over 2.5 million votes were "stolen" in the Haryana state election.
However, analysts argue the bigger issue lies in who gets to keep their voting rights. In October 2025, the ECI launched the SIR campaign to remove deceased, duplicate, or ineligible voters. In Bihar, nearly 80 million voters had only a few weeks to verify their eligibility. In West Bengal, about 9 million people (12% of the state's voters) were struck from the rolls, 34% of whom were Muslim despite making up only 27% of the population.
Economist Parakala Prabhakar said the government is choosing voters rather than voters choosing the government. "India will have two classes of people: one with voting rights, one without," he said, calling it a "bloodless" way to exclude the opposition from the political system.
