US President Donald Trump’s administration is pursuing a voter-roll verification system that has drawn comparisons with India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR), particularly over the focus on determining whether people listed on electoral rolls are eligible citizens. The US Supreme Court on September 25 allowed the administration to make the federal SAVE database available to states for checking citizenship information, marking a significant step in Trump’s push for tighter voter verification.

The comparison, however, comes with important differences in how the two countries conduct elections. In India, the Election Commission of India has the constitutional responsibility for preparing and revising electoral rolls nationwide. The SIR, which began in Bihar and has since expanded across states and Union Territories, is intended to identify deceased, shifted, duplicate and otherwise ineligible entries. More than 13 crore names have been removed from draft rolls during the exercise, making the process a major political and legal issue.

The US system is far more decentralised. Elections are administered by individual states and local authorities, which maintain their own voter lists. The federal government therefore cannot simply order a nationwide voter-roll revision comparable to the ECI’s SIR. Instead, SAVE provides states with a tool to compare voter information against federal records. Participation remains a decision for individual states, while the Trump administration has continued to argue that stronger citizenship checks are necessary to prevent non-citizens from voting.

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India’s SIR has also triggered debate over the documentation and eligibility requirements imposed on voters. The Election Commission has maintained that the exercise is aimed at ensuring accurate electoral rolls and identifying ineligible voters, while removal from a roll does not automatically amount to a finding of non-citizenship or lead to deportation. Opposition parties and civil society groups, however, have raised concerns about potential disenfranchisement and questioned the manner in which the revision is being carried out.

The controversy around India’s SIR has intensified in recent weeks, with opposition parties and activists demanding action against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The Supreme Court has sought responses on allegations that some decisions connected with the exercise were taken without the concurrence of all three Election Commissioners, while the poll panel has maintained that the nationwide SIR order and subsequent decisions were unanimously approved.

Both countries are therefore confronting questions about the accuracy and integrity of voter rolls, but through different constitutional and administrative mechanisms. Trump’s approach relies on giving states access to a federal verification database, while India’s SIR is being conducted through its central election authority. The comparison highlights a shared emphasis on voter eligibility and citizenship while also underscoring the significant differences between the US federal electoral structure and India’s centralised system for supervising electoral rolls.

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