Trump wrongly cites India instead of Brazil to attack US vote counting

Donald Trump cited a non-existent Indian presidential election while attacking US vote counting. The post appeared to confuse India with Brazil and revived his push for stricter election rules.

In Short

• Trump claimed India held a presidential vote with same-day results
• The post was apparently referring to Brazil's first-round presidential election
• Brazil recorded 125.27 million valid votes and began releasing results promptly

US President Donald Trump appeared to mix up India with Brazil in a social media post in which he claimed the American electoral process was "corrupt". Trump said "125 million people voted in India's Presidential elections and the results came out shortly after the vote closed", even though India did not hold a presidential election.

His post on Truth Social on Sunday was clearly in reference to Brazil's presidential election, where the first round was held the same day. Trump used the example to criticise the time taken to count votes in parts of the US.

"125 Million People voted today in the first round of India's Presidential Election. The results came out shortly after the vote closed, on the SAME DAY," Trump said. "In Detroit, Philadelphia, California, and numerous other US Cities and States, the results, with much smaller numbers, will often take weeks to Rig, I mean, calculate. Voting in America is CORRUPT," the US president said.

The reference to India appeared to be a possible mix-up with Brazil. Brazil held the first round of its presidential election on Sunday, with 125.27 million valid votes recorded, according to the country's electoral authority. Results began to be released at 5 pm, when voting ended, and were updated as ballots were received and processed.

Brazilians voted in the presidential election pitting incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva against Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro. As neither was able to secure a majority in the first round, a run-off election will be held on October 25.

India, meanwhile, did not hold a presidential election. President Droupadi Murmu, who took office in July 2022, is the current President of India. Also, Indians do not directly elect their President. The President is elected by an Electoral College comprising elected members of both Houses of Parliament and elected members of the legislative assemblies of the states and union territories through a system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.

In India's regular elections, voters directly elect members of the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies. The Prime Minister is then appointed by the President, usually the leader of the party or coalition commanding a majority in the Lok Sabha, while chief ministers are appointed by state governors, usually the leader of the party or coalition commanding a majority in the state assembly. India had nearly 980 million registered electors in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Trump has previously cited Indian elections, particularly the country's voter identification system, to push for electoral reforms in the US. In August, he said India's Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had spoken with officials from his administration and asked how US elections can be held without a valid photo identification card.

The US president made those remarks while seeking support for the SAVE America Act, which would require Americans to show proof of citizenship to register to vote, impose a nationwide voter identification requirement and severely limit voting by mail. "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," Trump said on August 17. "India's last Election had 646,000,000 Voters! Less than one 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," he had said in a social media post.

In sum, Trump's latest post wrongly referred to India while attacking the US voting system, although the election he appeared to be citing was Brazil's presidential poll, while India was not holding any presidential election at all.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends