Did US Really Fund India’s Elections? The 'Truth' Behind The $21 Million USAID Controversy

The Trump administration cancelled a $21 million USAID grant for alleged voter turnout in India, prompting accusations from the ruling BJP. However, the grant was actually intended for Bangladesh.

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The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) recently announced the cancellation of several projects, including a USAID grant of $21 million purportedly allocated for voter turnout in India. In response, the ruling BJP accused the Opposition, Congress, of allowing foreign influence in India’s electoral process.

During a speech in Miami, Trump questioned the necessity of such spending, saying, “Why do we need to spend $21 million for voter turnout in India? Wow, $21 million! I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected.”

However, in a report, The Indian Express said the funding was actually designated for Bangladesh, not India.

According to the IE report, the $21 million grant was sanctioned in 2022 and was aimed at supporting “political and civic engagement” among students in Bangladesh ahead of the January 2024 elections. Of this, $13.4 million had already been disbursed for various projects that have raised concerns regarding election integrity, months before the ouster of Sheikh Hasina.

The controversy stems from two USAID grants on DOGE’s list, which were channelled through the Washington, DC-based Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS). The organisation specialises in democracy, rights, and governance programming. CEPPS was slated to receive a total of $486 million from USAID. Among these allocations, DOGE cited $22 million for an "inclusive and participatory political process" in Moldova and $21 million for "voter turnout in India".

The Moldovan project, initiated in September 2016 under the Federal Award Identification Number AID117LA1600001, was scheduled to run until July 2026, with $13.2 million disbursed so far.

However, the USAID grant of $21 million flagged by DOGE was actually intended for Bangladesh. Official records reveal that:

• Every federal grant specifies the country where the funds are to be utilised. Data from US federal spending sources confirm that no USAID-funded CEPPS project has been active in India since 2008.
• The only ongoing USAID grant to CEPPS matching the $21 million amount and its voting-related purpose was sanctioned under Federal Award Identification Number 72038822LA00001 in July 2022 for the USAID&rsquos “Amar Vote Amar” (My Vote is Mine) initiative in Bangladesh.
• In November 2022, this grant was repurposed as the “USAID Nagorik (Citizen) Program.” A USAID Political Processes Advisor in Dhaka confirmed this on social media in December 2024, stating: “The USAID-funded $21 million CEPPS/Nagorik project… which I manage.”

Scheduled to run until July 2025, this grant has already used up $13.4 million. Between July 2022 and October 2024, it was divided into six sub-grants, distributed among three CEPPS member organizations: the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the International Republican Institute (IRI), and the National Democratic Institute (NDI).

IFES is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, while IRI and NDI are based in Washington, DC. When approached for comments, an IFES spokesperson declined, and queries sent to NDI and IRI remain unanswered.

Social media posts and campaign materials illustrate how some of these funds were used in Bangladesh, reported Indian Express. The website said, a post from September 11, 2024, by the Micro Governance Research (MGR) program at the University of Dhaka highlighted that 544 youth engagement events were held at university campuses across the country over two years, reaching over 10,000 students. The post credited IFES and USAID Bangladesh for their support through the Nagorik program.

Aynul Islam, a Senior Consultant with IFES and the founding director of the Applied Democracy Lab (ADL) at the University of Dhaka, too confirmed that USAID funded the Nagorik programme via CEPPS.

Further evidence of the CEPPS activities came from Lubain Chowdhury Masum, USAID’s Political Processes Advisor in Dhaka. On December 2, 2024, after visiting NDI headquarters in Washington, DC, Masum confirmed on LinkedIn that NDI participated in pre-election assessment and technical assessment missions in Bangladesh under the USAID-funded Nagorik project.

Additionally, an IRI opinion poll from August 2023 revealed that a majority of Bangladeshis believed the country was heading in the wrong direction.

DOGE’s list of cancelled grants included a $29.9-million USAID grant to Democracy International (DI) for strengthening Bangladesh’s political landscape. This grant, awarded in 2017, was due to conclude in October 2025. USAID and CEPPS have since taken down their websites, while DOGE has yet to respond to inquiries made on X (formerly Twitter), reported the Indian Express.

A spokesperson for the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi was quoted as saying that the USAID had been a longstanding development partner for Bangladesh. The spokesperson added that while USAID signed a $200-million development agreement with Bangladesh’s interim government in September 2024, the Trump administration’s policy shift is prompting a reassessment of USAID’s global funding.