Archive · 7 Oct 2026
Trump’s Voter-Citizenship Checks Draw Comparisons With India’s SIR
The United States and India are checking voter lists in different ways.
The U.S. Supreme Court let the government offer states a database called SAVE to check whether voters are citizens.
States can choose whether to use it.
India is carrying out a required nationwide review called the SIR.
India says the review removes people who have died, moved, or been listed more than once, as well as people who are not eligible to vote.
But the review has also removed many names for document or record mismatches, and India has not said how many non-citizens it found.
In the U.S., checks have wrongly flagged some citizens.
Critics say mistakes could keep eligible people from voting, while supporters say voter lists should include only eligible citizens.
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the administration to offer states access to the federal SAVE database for checking voter citizenship.
SAVE use is optional for states; 27 states already use it, while India’s Special Intensive Revision is mandatory and nationwide.
India’s Election Commission says the SIR removes dead, duplicate, shifted and ineligible names, but it has not disclosed how many non-citizens were identified.
In Texas, SAVE flagged 2,724 of 18 million voters, and officials later found hundreds were citizens; Nevada’s 185 flagged voters were all citizens.
Critics in both countries warn that unreliable checks can wrongly remove eligible voters, while officials defend citizenship verification as necessary.
- Who
- The U.S. administration, U.S. states, the Election Commission of India, and voters whose eligibility is being checked.
- What
- The U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to be offered SAVE database checks, while India is conducting a nationwide Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls.
- When
- The article reports the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on September 25 and describes developments through October 6; years are not specified for these dates.
- Where
- The United States and India.
- Why
- Officials say the checks are intended to ensure voter rolls include eligible citizens and remove ineligible or inaccurate entries.
Critics and dissenters
Officials and supporters
Risk of wrongly excluding eligible voters
Critics and dissenters
The League of Women Voters and U.S. Supreme Court dissenters warn that an unreliable database could target or disenfranchise lawful voters. Indian critics have also raised concerns about large-scale exclusion and arbitrary processes.
Officials and supporters
The U.S. Supreme Court majority said blocking SAVE would prevent the federal government from using the program it considers best suited to the task. India’s Election Commission describes the SIR as a constitutional duty to keep ineligible voters off the rolls.
Purpose and fairness of India’s SIR
Critics and dissenters
Opposition parties have called the exercise an NRC through the backdoor, and critics point to removals based on name and age discrepancies and the absence of published figures on non-citizens identified.
Officials and supporters
The Election Commission says the SIR addresses dead, shifted, duplicate and ineligible entries, and says an adverse electoral-roll finding does not itself result in deportation. The BJP says the effort targets illegal immigrants, not a community.
Evidence of non-citizen voting
Critics and dissenters
The article says Trump cited 278,000 alleged non-citizens on voter lists in four states without providing evidence; examples from Texas and Nevada show citizens were among those flagged.
Officials and supporters
The U.S. administration says citizenship checks are needed to identify ineligible voters, while India’s Election Commission argues that non-citizens must be excluded because voting is limited to citizens.
- U.S. system
- SAVE is a federal database originally built to check whether immigrants qualified for government benefits.
- State participation
- States are not required to use SAVE; 27 already do, according to the article.
- India roll removals
- About 13 crore names had been removed from draft rolls, roughly 14% of pre-SIR voters; removals include dead, shifted, duplicate and discrepancy cases.
- Texas check
- SAVE flagged 2,724 people among 18 million voters; officials later found hundreds were citizens.
- Nevada check
- All 185 people on a DHS list of suspected non-citizen voters were found to be citizens.
- India appeals
- Of 1.26 lakh SIR appeals decided by September 16, 1.14 lakh resulted in restoration of the voter, according to ECI figures filed in court.
- Court ruling
- The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the administration to offer SAVE checks to states; the decision was 6-3.