Trump questions $21 million grant for voter turnout in India as DOGE cancels funding: ‘To get somebody else elected’

Questioning the motive behind the funding, Trump said “Why do we need to spend $21 million on voter turnout in India? I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian Government…This is a total breakthrough.”

This comes a day after Trump had raised similar concerns, questioning the necessity of such financial aid. “Twenty-one million for voter turnout in India — why are we giving them this money?” Trump had remarked during a press conference. “India has a lot of money. They’re one of the highest-taxing countries in the world. It’s hard for us to get in there because their tariffs are so high.”

#WATCH | Miami, Florida | Addressing the FII PRIORITY Summit, US President Donald Trump says, “… Why do we need to spend $21 million on voter turnout in India? I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian Government… This is a total… pic.twitter.com/oxmk6268oW

— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2025

He further added: “I have a lot of respect for India, I have a lot of respect for the Prime Minister. He just left two days ago. But we’re giving 21 million dollar for voter turnout in India — what about voter turnout here? We’ve done that, I guess. We did 500 million dollar—it’s called the lock boxes.”

The move to revoke the funding follows DOGE’s announcement on February 16, in which the department declared the cancellation of financial support previously allocated to the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) for voter turnout efforts in India. The decision has sparked political controversy in India, with BJP leaders Amit Malviya and Rajeev Chandrasekhar criticizing the opposition Congress for what they labelled as “external interference in India’s electoral process.”

DOGE, headed by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, confirmed the cancellation in a post on X. The department outlined a list of suspended expenditures, including 486 million dollars previously designated for CEPPS. The breakdown included $22 million for promoting “inclusive and participatory political processes” in Moldova and the now-revoked 21 million dollars earmarked for increasing voter turnout in India.

The funding cut is part of a broader rollback of US international aid initiatives, with DOGE targeting projects deemed unnecessary or inefficient. Musk’s department announced the removal of multiple initiatives, ranging from voter confidence efforts in Liberia to biodiversity conservation in Nepal, totalling hundreds of millions of dollars.