Eager to Push Bill, Trump Claims CEC Gyanesh Kumar Questioned US Lack of Voter ID – Brought in 1993 by T.N. Seshan
New Delhi: US President Donald Trump, struggling to pass a strict proof-of-citizenship voting bill ahead of the midterm elections, has now claimed that India's Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, has purportedly questioned the lack of voter identification in the US polls.
Trump wrote on Truth Social:
Earlier this month, India’s Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, asked our Administration — How can you have Elections in the U.S. without a valid Photo ID? India’s last Election had 646,000,000 Voters! Less than 1% voted by mail, and every single Voter had to have a VALID Photo Identity Document. We need to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, now! President DONALD J. TRUMP
The voter identification system, through what is known as Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC), was first introduced in 1993 during the tenure of the Chief Election Commissioner T. N. Seshan.
Trump's SAVE America Act will ask US voters to show proof of citizenship to register to vote, and impose a voter identification requirement in what will severely limit the common US practice of voting by mail.
The New York Times had noted earlier in August after senators spent long hours in Washington without any concrete steps, that "there was simply not enough Republican support to push through the strict voter identification legislation."
That legislation has neither the majority it would need to pass in the Senate, nor the 60 votes needed to overcome a Democratic filibuster.
That the comparison is clearly angled at shoring support for the Act is evident from U.S. Ambassador to India and Special Envoy to South and Central Asia, Sergio Gor's post:
"President Donald J. Trump is absolutely correct! 646 MILLION voters, every single one required an ID in India’s last election. Congress should pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT!"
Trump has also shared a screenshot of this on Truth Social.
CEC Kumar's tenure in the Election Commission has been marked by allegations of serious voter fraud that has benefited the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and a widely criticised and exclusionary Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls that has kept out multiple lacks off the rolls and eventually, from welfare schemes.
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