The $21 million that USAID had set aside to increase voter turnout in India has been canceled by US President Donald Trump, who has questioned the organization’s intent and possible electoral meddling. In India, the outcry has sparked a political discussion.
US President Donald Trump has questioned the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) $21 million expenditure on election turnout in India. Trump called the situation a “total breakthrough,” implying that the funds might have been used to sway elections and that the US should speak with the Indian government.
President Donald Trump said
“Why do we need to spend $21 million on voter turnout in India? I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian Government… This is a total breakthrough,”.
The action was a component of DOGE’s continuous campaign against initiatives supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed that the DOGE cancellation was a “instance of interference” in India’s election process during the Congress-led UPA regime, which caused a political uproar in the country.
The opposition Congress responded by questioning how the incumbent Congress was affecting its own electoral prospects by securing this purported “external interference.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government secured a third term in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, albeit with a reduced majority. The BJP sought the assistance of its NDA allies in order to form the government after failing to get to the halfway point on its own.
The BJP’s National Information and Technology Department chief, Amit Malviya, had earlier said that the $21 million for voter turnout in India was “definitely external interference in India’s electoral process.”
“Who gains from this? Not the ruling party, for sure,” Malviya said claiming that in 2012, under the leadership of chief election commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi, the ECI signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).
Malviya said IFES was linked to investor “George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, primarily funded by USAID”.
Mint was unable to confirm Malviya’s assertions. Quraishi has denied the allegations, stating that although an MOU for training was signed with IFES, no funding was provided.
Quraishi was CEC from July 2010 to June 2012 Stated in a post on X
“The report in a section of Media about an MoU by ECI in 2012 when I was CEC, for funding of certain million dollars by a US agency for raising voter turnout in India does not have an iota of fact,”.
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