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Indian Express, Alt News’ Zubair, Rajdeep Sardesai Peddle Fake News About USAID’s $21 Million Funding For “Voter Turnout”Saying It Was For Bangladesh And Not India, Here’s The Truth

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The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the United States recently published a post on X, revealing a list of funding initiatives that were stopped or canceled. Among these, one particular allocation has drawn significant attention in India.

According to DOGE’s post, $486 million was given to the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS), with $21 million specifically allocated for ‘voter turnout’ in India—equivalent to ₹182 crores as per today’s exchange rate.

On 16 February 2025, DOGE posted, “US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent on the following items, all which have been cancelled: – $10M for “Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision” – $9.7M for UC Berkeley to develop “a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise driven skills” – $2.3M for “strengthening independent voices in Cambodia” – $32M to the Prague Civil Society Centre – $40M for “gender equality and women empowerment hub” – $14M for “improving public procurement” in Serbia – $486M to the “Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening,” including $22M for “inclusive and participatory political process” in Moldova and $21M for voter turnout in India – $29M to “strenghening political landscape in Bangladesh” – $20M for “fiscal federalism” in Nepal – $19M for “biodiversity conversation” in Nepal – $1.5M for “voter confidence” in Liberia – $14M for “social cohesion” in Mali – $2.5M for “inclusive democracies in Southern Africa” – $47M for “improving learning outcomes in Asia” – $2M to develop “sustainable recycling models” to “increase socio-economic cohesion among marginalized communities of Kosovo Roma, Ashkali, and Egypt“”

However, The Indian Express recently published a report claiming that a $21 million USAID grant flagged by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was meant for Bangladesh, not India.

But that is not the case when we refer to DOGE’s official post. So, what is the intent of The Indian Express in pushing this kind of propaganda?

Amplified By The Likes Of Zubair And Sardesai

Alleged ‘fact-checker’ and AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair amplified this report stating, “USAID $21 million for ‘vote turnout’ did NOT go to India but to Bangladesh. The US president confused Dhaka with Delhi. The $21 million, records accessed by @IndianExpress show, was sanctioned in 2022 for Bangladesh, not India.”

Here’s pro-Congress and Gandhi family simp Rajdeep Sardesai peddling the same.

What The Indian Express Claims

According to The Indian Express, the $21 million funding was sanctioned in 2022 for Bangladesh under USAID’s “Amar Vote Amar” project, later renamed the “Nagorik” program. The report argues that this funding was misrepresented as being intended for “voter turnout in India” when, in reality, it was used for civic engagement programs in Bangladesh.

What the Official Records Actually Show

DOGE’s own disclosure explicitly lists the $21 million under USAID funding for “voter turnout in India.” The funding appears alongside several other grants, including $22 million for “inclusive and participatory political process” in Moldova and $29 million for “strengthening the political landscape in Bangladesh.” These allocations were part of a broader $486 million package channeled through the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS).

The Indian Express fails to explain why DOGE, which has access to detailed federal funding records, explicitly stated that the $21 million was designated for India. Furthermore, USAID’s historical engagement with Indian elections raises additional questions about the claim that no such funding existed.

Even President Trump mentioned $21 million voter turnout in India and $29 million for Bangladesh – as two separate entities. He made no mistake there. 

USAID & Role In India’s Electoral System

The Indian Express report conveniently sidesteps the 2012 Memorandum of Understanding between the Election Commission of India and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). This agreement, signed under then-Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, facilitated USAID’s involvement in India’s electoral processes.

Image Source: OpIndia

Notably, IFES—one of the key organizations within CEPPS—is linked to George Soros’s Open Society Foundation and has a documented history of funding political and electoral initiatives in India.

Past funding records, once publicly available on CEPPS’s now-defunct website, show financial flows directed at electoral programs in India as late as 2014.

Why This Matters

The Indian Express report appears to be an attempt to downplay or dismiss concerns about foreign influence in India’s electoral process. The failure to acknowledge IFES’s past agreements with Indian institutions, combined with the misrepresentation of DOGE’s official funding list, suggests a deliberate effort to obscure facts.

Moreover, the narrative constructed by The Indian Express aligns with a broader pattern of denial by certain media and political factions in India, which have historically dismissed allegations of foreign electoral interference.

With DOGE now actively scrutinizing USAID’s funding, more details about past allocations to India’s electoral processes may emerge. The abrupt shutdown of CEPPS’s website only adds to suspicions that key information about past and ongoing programs may be withheld from public scrutiny.

As the debate over foreign funding in India’s elections intensifies, the real question is: why are some media outlets so eager to dismiss concerns raised by official U.S. disclosures? The answer may lie in the very networks that benefited from these funds—networks now scrambling to cover their tracks.

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