Reports the United States - via its global aid body, USAID - budgeted $21 million for "voter turnout in India" in 2012, as part of $486 million set aside for a "consortium for elections and political processes", have led to a bitter spat, and the BJP and the Congress taking sharp jabs at each other.
On X Monday morning the Congress' Pawan Khera hit back at the BJP's Amit Malviya, who last night attacked the opposition party over the $21 million grant; "This definitely is external interference in India's electoral process. Who gains from this? Not the ruling party (the BJP) for sure!" he said.
Mr Khera's response was a pointed reminder that in 2012, when the grant was allegedly made, it was the Congress (at the head of the United Progressive Alliance) and not the BJP that was in power.
"... in 2012, when the Election Commission got this funding from USAID, the ruling party was the Congress. So, by his logic: Ruling party was sabotaging its electoral prospects by getting this so called 'external interference'. And the opposition (BJP) won the 2014 election because of Soros/USAID."
Someone tell this clown that in 2012, when ECI allegedly got this funding from USAID, the ruling party was Congress.
— Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 (@Pawankhera) February 17, 2025
So, by his logic :
▪️Ruling party (Congress) was sabotaging its own electoral prospects by getting this so called ‘external interference'.
▪️And that the… pic.twitter.com/Xa92irSf29
This whole controversy - which has provided the BJP with welcome ammunition to deflect opposition attacks on a number of issues, including the ruling party's management of the Maha Kumbh in Uttar Pradesh - broke after an X post by the US' Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Washington's 'cost-cutting' agency set up by President Donald Trump and run by X owner Elon Musk.
READ | Musk's DOGE Flags $21 Million For "Voter Turnout", BJP Responds
The DOGE post said US taxpayers' money was, ostensibly, being spent on global aid programmes, such as $19 million for biodiversity conservation in Nepal and $10 million for medical programmes in Mozambique, as well as $40 million for global gender equality and millions more for African nations.
But these, it claimed, were, in fact, spent on "questionable" overseas political activities.
BJP Flags "External Interference"
The BJP's response was quick and sharp, declaring the post confirmed "external interference" in Indian elections, a charge the party has made repeatedly over the past months, particularly linking billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros. The BJP has often claimed that Soros-founded media agencies publish 'anti-India' narratives that are amplified by the Congress to defame the country.
READ | JP Nadda vs M Kharge Over Soros-Sonia Gandhi Link Claims
"Once again, it is Soros, a known associate of Congress and the Gandhis, whose shadow looms over our electoral process," Mr Malviya alleged in an earlier post, in which he accused the EC, then led by SY Quraishi, of signing a deal that to hand over "entire Election Commission to foreign operators".
Amit Malviya wasn't the only BJP leader to mount attacks; the saffron party's Pradeep Bhandari and Nalin Kohli have also hit out. Mr Kohli asked, "Why would any US agency wish to give $21 million for election-related work in India? Would that not amount to interference in India's electoral process?"
READ | "USAID Biggest Scam In History": PM's Adviser After DOGE's Claim
Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Economic Advisory Council, also lashed out, calling USAID "the biggest scam in human history".
Ex-Poll Body Chief Responds
Those claims by Amit Malviya were separately and emphatically refuted by Mr Quraishi in X posts of his own; he said the DOGE claim that funds were used for "voter turnout" were baseless.
“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
— Dr. S.Y. Quraishi (@DrSYQuraishi) February 16, 2025
agency for raising voter turnout in India does not have an iota of fact . 1/2
He explained that in 2012 there was a MoU, or Memorandum of Understanding, with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, or IFES, similar to those the poll body had signed earlier and still entered into, and were meant to train resources ahead of elections.
READ | "Not An Iota Of Fact": Ex-Poll Body Chief Rejects DOGE's Claim
"Any mention of any funds in connection with this MoU is completely false and malicious," he said.
Mr Quraishi led poll panel from July 2010 to June 2012.
With input from agencies
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