As the political storm over USAID’s $21 million grant for India’s elections intensifies, another fact-check report on the issue has emerged. The report says that the $21M wasn’t for India’s election, but it was for Bangladesh. On February 16, the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced that it had “canceled” several projects, including USAID’s $21 million funding for voter turnout in India.” Following this, the ruling BJP accused the opposition Congress of leveraging alleged external influence in India’s election process.
What Trump Said
Trump himself, in a speech in Miami Wednesday, said: “Why do we need to spend $21m for voter turnout in India? Wow, $21m! I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected.” However an Indian Express report suggest that the money was sanctioned in 2022 for Bangladesh and not for India.
“It Was For Bangladesh”
The publisher says that as per the records accessed by them $21 million was sanctioned in 2022 for Bangladesh. Of this, $13.4 million has already been disbursed, ostensibly for “political and civic engagement” among Bangladesh students in the run-up to the January 2024 elections and projects that put a question mark on the integrity of these elections — seven months before the ouster of Sheikh Hasina.
The focus is on the two USAID grants on DOGE’s list that were channelled via the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS), a group based in Washington, DC, which specialises 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, According to a report by The IE, the $21 million USAID grant flagged by DOGE was actually meant for Bangladesh, not India. The publication further states that U.S. federal spending records show no USAID-funded CEPPS projects in India since 2008. The only ongoing USAID grant to CEPPS that matches the $21 million amount is linked to Bangladesh.
What The Report IE Said
“The first was awarded to CEPPS in September 2016 to “promote” an “inclusive and participatory political process” in Moldova. With Federal Award Identification Number AID117LA1600001 (an ID specific to the grant), this was to run until July 2026 and $13.2 million has been disbursed so far.
In November 2022, the purpose of this grant was modified to “USAID’s Nagorik (Citizen) Program”. A USAID Political Processes Advisor in Dhaka confirmed this on social media while on a US visit in December 2024: “The USAID-funded $21 million CEPPS/Nagorik project… which I manage.”
Between July 2022 and October 2024, this $21-million grant was split into six sub-grants: two each for three CEPPS member organisations International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES); International Republican Institute (IRI); and National Democratic Institute (NDI).
The report contains a December 2024 LinkedIn post by USAID advisor in Dhaka Lubain Masum that confirms million grant through CEPPS.
