US cites India on voter IDs, but are elections under Modi clean?

US President Donald Trump has been touting India’s election system as a model for tougher voter-identification rules in the United States that he is trying to force through in the face of political opposition.

In a Truth Social post on Monday, the US president said India’s Chief Election Commissioner had asked his administration how the US could hold elections without a valid photo ID.

“India’s last election had 646,000,000 voters! Less than 1 percent voted by mail, and every single voter had to have a valid photo identity document,” he said.

The US president used the comparison to renew his push for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require people registering to vote in federal elections to provide documentary proof of US citizenship and impose stricter voter-ID requirements.

While India’s elections are the world’s largest and are widely admired for their scale, complexity and efficiency, its election process has also faced scrutiny over electoral rolls, campaign malpractices, and increasingly, concerns over the independence of institutions under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

So, how clean are India’s elections, what does the country’s experience really tell us, and do voter IDs end electoral malpractices?

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE America Act, is a voting bill backed by Trump.

The version passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives in February would require people registering to vote in federal elections to provide documentary proof of US citizenship, such as a birth certificate or passport.