Trump cites India election that never happened as corrupt — SkimNews
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- Trump posted on Truth Social on October 4, 2026, claiming 125 million people voted in India's presidential election and that results came out the same day, using the comparison to argue U.S. voting is "CORRUPT"
- India held no presidential election that day; President Droupadi Murmu has been in office since July 2022, and Indian presidents are elected by an Electoral College rather than direct popular vote
- The post appeared to confuse India with Brazil, which held its presidential election first round on the same day with 125.27 million valid votes, pitting incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva against Flavio Bolsonaro and heading to an October 25 runoff
- Trump previously cited India's elections in August 2026 to push for the SAVE America Act, claiming India's Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar asked how the U.S. holds elections without valid photo ID
- India's 2024 Lok Sabha election had nearly 980 million registered electors, with less than one percent voting by mail, per Trump's earlier social media claims
- The Truth Social post was later corrected
Why it matters: The gaffe cuts against Trump's own argument: India, his preferred model for fast electoral results, doesn't even hold a direct presidential vote — so the comparison collapses on its own terms. Trump has repeatedly invoked India's voter-ID infrastructure to push the SAVE America Act, and conflating India with Brazil exposes how loosely those foreign analogies are constructed when repurposed for U.S. election-reform messaging.
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