Are Donald Trump and Indian CEC Gyanesh Kumar made for each other?

A Truth Social post on 18 August, sent out in the name of US President Trump, was largely ignored in the US but received wide traction in India for obvious reasons. It read, "Earlier this month, India’s chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar asked our Administration — How can you have Elections in the US without a valid Photo ID? India’s last Election had 646,000,000 Voters! Less than 1 per cent voted by mail, and every single Voter had to have a valid photo identity document. We need to pass the Save America Act now!" The remark came after a documented meeting between Gyanesh Kumar and US ambassador to India Sergio Gor.

While the Right wing in India hailed the post as vindication of India’s Election Commission and the electoral system, the rest were not so amused. While the US president posted that Indian electronic voting machines were the answer to alleged voter fraud in the US, Indian Opposition sarcastically pleaded that along with the EVMs, the US should take away India’s CEC too. Some hopefully reflected that if Indian EVMs are indeed used in the US, the source code would finally be revealed, something that the Election Commission has refused to do.

Trump’s post was trying to garner support for the passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which failed to secure the 60 votes required to clear the 100-member US Senate. The bill was originally passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in April 2025 and an expanded iteration — the SAVE America Act — was passed in the House in February 2026. Passage of the bill has now has become a central legislative flashpoint in the US, leading to intense debate over voter access, election integrity and federal oversight of voting rules.

Supporters of the bill — mostly Republicans, who are in power — argue that documentary proof of citizenship and strict photo ID are necessary to secure federal elections and to ensure non-citizens cannot register or vote. They view these measures as necessary for protecting ballot integrity and restoring public trust in election outcomes.

Critics — mostly Democrats and a large section of civil society — contend that the bill addresses a non-existent issue, noting that non-citizen voting is rare and already illegal under federal law. They argue that such a requirement would disenfranchise millions of eligible citizens—particularly low-income voters, married women whose legal names changed and rural residents—who lack immediate access to specified citizenship documents.

There is a second Truth Social post of 20 August — again, attributed to President Trump — which is also doing the rounds. It says: “Just finished an INCREDIBLE call with India's chief election commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, a TRUE PROFESSIONAL! We are in SERIOUS TALKS about bringing India's world class EVM system to America for the 2028 Election. These machines are UNBEATABLE, FAST, and 100% SECURE. No more mail in ballots, no more chaos, no more RIGGED elections! India just ran an election with 646 MILLION voters, every single one with Photo ID, and it was FAIR, CLEAN, and BEAUTIFUL. America deserves the SAME!”

The post went on to state, “Gyanesh Kumar and I are working together to MAKE AMERICAN ELECTIONS GREAT AGAIN. The radical left is already trembling. 2028 will be the most TRANSPARENT, most HONEST election in U.S. history. GUARANTEED!

Although the authenticity of Trump’s second Truth Social post could not be verified, at the time of writing even as readers claimed it was fake, neither CEC Kumar, nor the Election Commission, or the White House has issued a statement denying the conversation.

Using Indian EVMs or acquiring the services of the highly skilled Indian CEC is of course next to impossible. First, it will need amending the US Constitution to enable Trump from running a third term for the presidential office. Secondly, it will mean transitioning to electronic voting machines (EVMs) from the existing practice of using paper ballots and e-mail voting. All the states in the US will have to sign on to such a transition.

While a curated voters’ list and EVMs can help, they are not sufficient to guarantee a desired electoral outcome. As experience in Bengal and Bihar revealed, it is the control over the counting process that eventually seals a victory. This involves transferring, lock, stock and barrel, compliant officers from outside the state to oversee the counting tables, physical removal of agents from the opposition political parties using intimidation, violence and security forces.

What EC achieved in West Bengal was by no means insignificant. Using a suspicious algorithm and dubious criterion called logical discrepancy, it struck 1.5 crore people off the electoral list, over and above nearly 60 lakh in the ASDD category. Elections took place with 27 lakh people excluded from the list. Only 32 lakh votes separated the BJP and the runner-up TMC.

Photo-identity cards are not what Kumar brings to the table. It is his cutting-edge skill as a master of deletion of citizens’ names from the electoral rolls which seems to have made him a White House favourite.

Sourabh Sen is a Kolkata-based independent writer and commentator on politics, human rights and foreign affairs