US elections would be irregular by standards of India, other nations

New York : The way the US conducts its presidential election would be considered irregular -- and even illegal -- in India and many countries.

Elections are conducted by state and local agencies with different formats, rules and even machines in the US, while the Federal Election Commission is concerned mostly with regulating the political contributions, in money or in kind, that are governed by complicated regulations.

Some US politicians and the media denigrate the election process in other countries, especially developing nations, but the US system is also flawed.

The most glaring questionable aspect of elections here is allowing open appeal to religion, and major parties openly do communal propaganda and have religious units.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, for example, issued a separate manifesto for Muslims, which turned Kashmir from an international affairs issue into a communal one. (But there wasn't one for Hindus.)

President Donald Trump's son Eric visited a Hindu temple in Atlanta this year and in Florida in 2016. The two candidates' official campaigns have religious units like Hindu Voices for Trump and Hindu Americans for Biden.

The voting process has been heavily politicised this year, reflecting the national polarisation, and some of its problems have been exacerbated by the coronavirus crisis.

Democrats pushed for widespread use of postal votes -- officially known as absentee ballots -- and early in-person voting because some people fearing crowds due to the COVID-19 pandemic may not want to go to the polling booths on November 3.