US lawmaker Pramila Jayapal says India’s move to ‘purge’ 13 crore voters is ‘anti-democratic’

United States lawmaker Pramila Jayapal on Wednesday said that the Indian government’s actions to “purge” 13 crore persons from the electoral rolls through the special intensive revision appeared similar to measures being taken by the Donald Trump administration to “undermine voting rights in a democracy”.

The Democratic Party leader’s comments came amid protests in Delhi and other parts of the country over alleged irregularities in how the voter roll is being revised. On October 10, around 7,000 protesters in Delhi were detained and allegedly assaulted for taking part in the demonstrations.

On Wednesday, Jayapal said that “non-violent resistance movements are essential”.

She added that she stood with Indians engaging in “non-violent protests to counter anti-democratic efforts in India”.

I am deeply concerned about the actions of the Indian government to purge 130 million people from the voting rolls. This appears to be a similar playbook to what the Trump Administration is doing here at home to undermine voting rights in a democracy.— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) October 14, 2026

“Protecting democracies everywhere is essential work, and the Indian people – like the American people – deserve free and fair elections,” she said.

Protests are being held in several parts of the country calling for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to resign over concerns about...

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