Trump invokes India’s Election Commissioner to push photo ID voter card for US election
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The embattled US President Donald Trump, for lack of sufficient political ground to introduce a photo-based identification process for voting, has brought in India's Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, claiming that he questioned the US voting process without compulsory photographic identification.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump flaunted India’s electoral process, particularly citing the photo identification required for casting votes, and shared Gyanesh Kumar’s concern over the US voting process without a valid photo ID, while underlining the significance of the recently held election in India, which recorded a participation of 646 million voters, with compulsory photo ID.
Trump reportedly invoked Gyanesh Kumar’s statement to exert pressure on Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship for voter registration and impose broader identification requirements.
It was during the tenure of T. N. Seshan as Chief Election Commissioner in 1993 that the Electors Photo Identity Card was introduced and has since become a central feature of the country's electoral process.
The lack of backing from Republicans in the Senate, when it requires 60 votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster, remains a major obstacle to the legislation introduced by Trump. US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor publicly endorsed Trump's comparison, arguing that India's electoral model demonstrated the value of compulsory identification.
The claim has nevertheless drawn attention to India's own electoral controversies, as Kumar's tenure has been accompanied by opposition allegations of voter irregularities favouring the ruling BJP and criticism of a Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, which critics say excluded large numbers of voters and affected their access to welfare benefits.