$21 mn in USAID was not to increase India's 'voter turnout'; it was for Bangladesh: Report

The USAID meant for increasing 'voter turnout' in India has been cancelled as announced by the Donald Trump administration and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on February 16.

Reportedly, $21 million was sent to India for this purpose -- a claim that has the ruling BJP accusing Congress, its main opposition, of using alleged external influence in India's election process.

Trump recently said "I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected" on $21 mn being purportedly sent to India. However, it appears the money was sanctioned in 2022 for Bangladesh, The Indian Express reported.

Of this, $13.4 mn has already been disbursed for what the publication reported was "political and civic engagement" among students there ahead of the 2024 elections and projects that raised doubts about the integrity of the same. The elections in January came seven months before Hasina was ousted from power.

The focus is on 2 USAID grants sent through the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) -- a Washington-based group specialising in "complex democracy, rights and governance programming".

CEPPS was supposed to get $486 mn in USAID, which included -- as per DOGE -- $22 mn for "inclusive and participatory political process" and $21 mn for "voter turnout in India."

However, as per IE, the USAID $21 mn grant flagged by DOGE was meant for Bangladesh.

As per the publication, US federal spending data shows no USAID funded CEPPS projects in India since 2008. The only ongoing USAID grant to CEPPS matching $21 mn and the purpose of voting comes for the July 2022 initiative 'Amar Vote Amar' (My Vote is Mine) -- a Bangladesh project.

This was modified in Nov 2022 and became 'USAID's Naagorik (Citizen) Program'.

This grant is meant to run till July 2025, the publication added.

It was split into six sub-grants between July 2022 and Oct 2024 -- two each for three CEPPS member organisations International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES); International Republican Institute (IRI); and National Democratic Institute (NDI).

University of Dhaka and MGR’s director associate professor Aynul Islam was asked about his posts following Hasina's ouster where he spoke of events in campus spaces made possible by IFES and USAID Bangladesh under the Nagorik program.

When asked if this program set the stage for the political upheaval in Bangladesh, Islam said "It may not be right to directly link the two. I played a small role on behalf of IFES in creating democratic awareness among students but the main component of the Nagorik program was carried out by IRI, and also NDI (member organisations of CEPPS that received the funds)," as per IE.

NDI and IRI also worked together on Pre-Election Assessment Mission (PEAM) and the Technical Assessment Mission (TAM) in Bangladesh under the CEPPS/Nagorik project and concluded "Many stakeholders made credible accusations that state security services and other government institutions at times unevenly enforced election rules to favour the ruling Awami League. The scale of the government’s efforts to arrest opposition members and restrict or disrupt opposition political activities was not satisfactorily justified and generated a widespread perception of politicized law enforcement during the election period."

IRI in a nationwide poll in Aug 2023 found that majority Bangladeshis believed the nation was 'headed in the wrong direction'. Hasina resigned a year later.