$21m US funding for 'voter turnout' triggers BJP attack on UPA, ex-CEC 'clarifies'

NEW DELHI: Even as BJP on Sunday said a now cancelled US-funded programme linked to voter turnout in India was another example of the UPA govt allegedly enabling "infiltration of Indian institutions by forces opposed to the country's interests",

S Y Quraishi

, who was chief election commissioner at the time, said there indeed was an MoU in 2012 but any mention of any funds was "completely false and malicious".
BJP seized upon Elon Musk-headed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), constituted by US President Donald Trump, announcing that it had cancelled many programmes costing hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars, citing $486 million to the 'Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening', which included $21 million for "voter turnout" in India.

"It is becoming increasingly evident that the Congress-led UPA systematically enabled the infiltration of India's institutions by forces opposed to the nation's interests - those who seek to weaken India at every opportunity," BJP's IT department head

Amit Malviya

said on X.

Quraishi, who headed EC from July 30, 2010, to June 10, 2012, took to X to clarify matters: "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."
Ex-CEC: No financing or promise of finance in MoU with IFES
SY Quraishi further said, "Yes, there was an MoU with IFES (International Foundation for Electoral Systems) in 2012 like we had with many other agencies and election management bodies to facilitate training for desirous countries at ECI's training & resource centre, IIIDEM, which was very new at that stage."
The former CEC said there was no financing or even promise of finance involved in the MoU. "The MoU, in fact, made it clear in black and white that there would be no financial and legal obligation of any kind on either side," he added.
He said this stipulation was made at two different places to leave no scope for any ambiguity. Earlier, Amit Malviya claimed that the shadow of billionaire American investor George Soros, a "known associate of Congress party and the Gandhis, loomed over our electoral process".
He said EC had signed an MoU with IFES, an organisation he claimed was linked to Soros's Open Society Foundation, which was primarily funded by USAID.
"$21m for voter turnout? This definitely is external interference in India's electoral process. Who gains from this? Not the ruling party for sure," Malviya said.