Trump said, “21 million dollars in voter turnout – why do we need to spend 21 million for voter turnout in India? I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected.
“We have got to tell the Indian Government… Because when we hear that Russia spent about two thousand dollars in our country, it was a big deal. They took some internet ads for two thousand dollars. This is a total breakthrough.”He further argued that India, with its strong economy and high tariffs on US goods, doesn’t need such financial support. “They got a lot of money. They’re one of the highest taxing countries in the world in terms of us. We can hardly get in there because their tariffs are so high.”
Trump expressed his respect for India and its Prime Minister but wondered why the US needs to spend millions on voter turnout in a foreign country.
#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
– years (@ani) February 20, 2025
“I have a lot of respect for India. I have a lot of respect for the prime minister. He just left, as you know, two days ago. But we’re giving USD 21 million for voter turnout. It’s voter turnout in India. What about, like, voter turnout here? Oh, we’ve done that, I guess. We did USD 500 million, didn’t we? It’s called the lockboxes,” he added.
The $21 million allocation was part of a larger list of international aid programs cancelled by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by Elon Musk.
In an X post, DOGE shared that a $21 million US taxpayer-funded initiative to boost voter turnout in India had been scrapped.
The funding was part of a larger $486 million package allocated for the “Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening.” The post also mentioned several other international expenditures, like ‘strengthening political landscape in Bangladesh’, $20 million for ‘fiscal federalism’ in Nepal, $1.5 million for ‘voter confidence’ in Liberia, and others.
Following this, Amit Malviya, who is in charge of BJP’s National Information & Technology Department, expressed concern about foreign interference in India’s electoral process. On X, he cited a 2012 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).
