GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 17th Feb. Former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi has dismissed reports claiming that US agency funds were used to boost voter turnout in India during his tenure. His statement came after the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, announced budget cuts, including the cancellation of a $21 million grant reportedly allocated for this purpose.
The DOGE, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), listed multiple discontinued taxpayer-funded programs, including $486 million in grants to the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening, of which $21 million was allegedly earmarked for voter turnout in India.
Refuting these claims, Quraishi stated that there was never any financial agreement with a US agency for India’s voter turnout efforts. He clarified that while an MoU was signed in 2012 with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), it was purely for training and capacity-building at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) and involved no financial or legal commitments.
Reacting to DOGE’s revelation, BJP leader Amit Malviya called the reported grant an “external interference” in India’s electoral process and questioned who benefited from it, asserting that it was not the ruling party. He also alleged that the Congress-led UPA government had enabled the infiltration of Indian institutions by foreign influences.
Quraishi, who served as CEC from July 2010 to June 2012, reiterated that the MoU explicitly stated there would be no financial obligations on either side and dismissed the funding claims as “false and malicious.”
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