New Delhi: The Elon Musk-headed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) recently cancelled millions of dollars in funding for various countries, including $21 million allocated for enhancing “voter turnout in India.”
The US government’s decision has come as a revelation and surprised many in India that so much of American funds was actually being infused into India’s election system.
The ruling BJP on Monday trained its guns on Congress, asking the grand old party about the powers that received foreign grants to “influence” and “trouble” the electoral process of India.
“We want to ask the Congress clearly… who are these powers that seem to be getting economic grants for influencing and creating trouble in the election process in India,” BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said at a press conference.
The BJP leader alleged that an organisation called ‘The International Foundation for Electoral Systems’ had signed an agreement in 2011 with an Indian body called India International Institute of Election Management, which is an organisation associated with the Election Commission of India (ECI).
“And the support came from an organisation called Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening which has links with George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, which invested half a billion dollars in India through USAID etc. and since then 3.5 lakh dollars were coming to India every year,” Trivedi claimed.
BJP earlier highlighted an MOU signed between Washington-based International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and the ECI and alleged that then Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi was involved with this foreign funding row.
“Views of (George) Soros and Uncle Sam (Pitroda) are similar. Whatever Sam Pitroda has said… it appears that the lyrics are by Sam Pitroda and the music is composed by Soros and Congress, INDI alliance people are playing the symphony,” Trivedi added.
BJP Alleges ‘External Interference’
Soon after DOGE made the announcement two days ago, BJP responded by alleging “external interference in India’s electoral process,” a charge that the saffron party has repeatedly made, linking billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros.
“Who gains from this? Not the ruling party for sure!” the party questioned.
“Once again, it is Soros, a known associate of Congress and the Gandhis, whose shadow looms over our electoral process,” BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya alleged in a post on X, accusing ECI and Quraishi of signing a deal to hand over “entire Election Commission to foreign operators.”
Quraishi, who served as CEC July 2010 to June 2012, dismissed the charges against him.
“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,” he said.
