'Save America Act': Donald Trump Cites CEC Gyanesh Kumar As He Pushes For Changes To US Elections

US President Donald Trump, on Monday, invoked India's Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and hailed India's electoral system while questioning the lack of voter identification in American polls.

Trump recalled remarks attributed to Gyanesh Kumar, in which he asked about the viability of carrying out elections in the US without a valid Photo ID. "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?" read a post by Donald Trump on Truth Social.

He also praised the elections conducted in India, where more than 64 crore voters participate in the process with a valid photo identity card. " 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!" Trump's social media post added.

This is not the first time when India's electoral process received applause in America. Tech billionaire Elon Musk had also praised Indian elections and called for reforms in polls in the US.

What is the SAVE America Act?

SAVE America Act is the 'Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE)' act and is a proposed federal law that makes it mandatory for individuals to present documentary proof of US citizenship when registering to cast their vote in federal elections. It also mandates a photo ID to cast a ballot.

The legislation ensures that only US citizens participate in deciding federal elections. It will also restrict the facility of mail-in ballots only to citizens who are facing illness or disability, or are associated to military or are unable to participate due to mandatory travel purpose.

"The SAVE America ACT will direct states to remove non-citizens from the voter rolls. AMERICA lags behind other nations in enforcing basic and necessary election protections," read a note published on White House website.

According to the website, the US lacks basic election protections, unlike countries like India and Brazil, where voter ID is linked to a biometric database. However, the US is largely dependent on self-attestation for citizenship.

Germany and Canada require paper ballots when tabulating votes, while the US lacks basic chain-of-custody protections. Late arrivals in voting is not counted in most of the cities, but American elections now feature mass voting by mail, even after Election Day, highlighted the White House website in its note.