India’s Supreme Court wants the Election Commission to explain its voter-roll overhaul, after petitioners alleged 130 million names were deleted. In the US, claims of postal-vote fraud persist without evidence, and trust in the post to deliver ballots is falling.
On 5 October, India’s Supreme Court issued notice to the Election Commission over its Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the central government must also respond. One petition alleges that about 130 million names were deleted across 30 states and union territories. The commission hasn’t confirmed that figure, and the judges refused to suspend Kumar before hearing his side.
In Bihar, the first state revised, the roll fell from 78.9 million electors to 74.2 million in 2025. A second phase across nine states and three union territories cut the rolls by 51.8 million names, or 10.2%. Together that’s about 56.5 million names, and a third phase is still running.
The commission says it is removing duplicate, dead and ineligible entries from voter rolls. On 2 October, it told officials to re-register eligible voters left off by mistake. Residents of Delhi, Bihar and West Bengal say they were wrongly removed, and protesters allege the revision targeted Muslim voters. Last month, The Indian Express reported that two commissioners had objected on record at least 14 times. An unnamed commission source replied that every decision, including the revision, was unanimous.
Judges and protesters press the commission
“There is a mandatory law, and we expect them to follow it. If there is any violation, we will undo,” said Chief Justice Surya Kant. Justice Joymalya Bagchi added that the court expected answers “in a clear, transparent manner”.
Thousands rallied in Delhi and Mumbai on 4 October, and police detained dozens of demonstrators over three days. On 6 October, Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, led MPs towards the commission’s headquarters. Police stopped the march. The Gen Z-led Cockroach Janta Party has called a Delhi rally for 10 October.
America’s fight is over the ballot
In the US, Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that mail ballots enable fraud. His March executive order told the Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters on lists from state officials. On 14 September, the Supreme Court refused to let parts of the resulting rule take effect before November’s midterms.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, lists about 1,500 proven election-fraud cases of all kinds over decades. Americans cast hundreds of millions of votes over the same period. Even so, a PBS News, NPR and Marist poll found 41% of registered voters see a great deal or a good amount of mail-voting fraud. Among Republicans the figure was 70%. The poll surveyed 1,280 registered voters on 14 and 15 September.
Nearly a quarter of US voters plan to vote by mail this year, down from 31% who did so in 2024. Only 58% trust the Postal Service to deliver election mail on time, 13 points fewer than in 2024.
A wider slide in election quality
International IDEA’s latest Global State of Democracy report found credible elections declined in 32 countries between 2020 and 2025. They improved in 11. It recorded seven statistically significant declines across its measures for the US, with no advances.
Voter rolls and ballots need protecting as carefully as any democratic right. An election only settles power when the losing side accepts the count. India’s test comes when the commission answers the court and shows the basis for each deletion. America’s comes on 3 November, when officials count millions of postal ballots under rules the courts have so far kept in place.
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