New Delhi: Former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi on Sunday rejected report that a US agency funding was used for raising voter turnout in India when he headed the poll body. His reaction came after the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by billionaire Elon Musk announced a series of expenditure cuts, including USD 21 million allocated for "voter turnout in India."
The DOGE in a post on X on Saturday announced cancelling many programmes costing hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars. The department said, "US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent on the following items, all (of) which have been cancelled..." The list included USD 486 million in grants to the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening including USD 21 million for "voter turnout in India".
"The report in a section of media about an MoU by the 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," Quraishi said in a statement.
He said there was in fact an MOU with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) IFES in 2012, when he was the CEC, like the ones the EC had with many other agencies and Election Management Bodies to facilitate training for desirous countries at ECI's training and resource centre India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM).
"There was no financing or even promise of finance involved in MoU, forget X or Y amount," he said. Reacting to the post by DOGE, BJP leader Amit Malviya termed the grant an "external interference" in India's elections. He questioned who the beneficiary was, asserting that it was "not the ruling party for sure".
"USD 21M for voter turnout? This definitely is external interference in India's electoral process. Who gains from this? Not the ruling party for sure!" the BJP's IT department head said on X. He claimed that the now cancelled programme was a pointer to the previous Congress-led UPA government allegedly enabling infiltration of Indian institutions by forces opposed to the country's interests.
Quraishi said 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. "This stipulation was made at two different places to leave no scope for any ambiguity. Any mention of any funds in connection with this MoU is completely false and malicious, " said Quraishi, who headed the poll panel from July 30, 2010 to June 10, 2012 said.
