‘Baseless and Malibly’: EX-CEC clarified after the funding ‘Voter Turnout’ led by EX-CEC. India News – The Times of India

New Delhi: Former chief election commissioner (CEC) Sy Quraishi dismissed claims that an American agency called the efforts to increase voting in India as “baseless” and “malicious”. Their response leads an announcement by the Department of Efficiency of the US Government (DOGE), under which led Elon MuskWhich claimed to have canceled $ 21 million in funding for voter participation initiative in India.
Qureshi clarified that during his tenure as CEC in 2012, Election Commission of India (ECI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). However, he said that the agreement did not include any financial commitment. Quraisis wrote on X, “In 2012, an IOTA reported to increase voting in India by the US agency when I was CEC about an MoU by ECI, when I was CEC. The fact is not, “Quraisis has written on X. ,
He further stated that the MoU was similar to ECI’s Indian Institute of Electoral Democracy and Electoral Management (IIIDEM) to facilitate training with several other international election management bodies to facilitate training. “There was no funding or even the promise of finance included in the MoU, forget the X or Y zodiac. The MoU really made it clear in black and white that there was any financial on both sides And there would not be legal obligation, “he said, saying that this stipend was clearly mentioned in two different places in the document to avoid any ambiguity.
Qureshi reiterated that any claim of American funding for voter participation in India was completely wrong. “Any mention of money in relation to this agreement is completely false and malicious,” he wrote.
Dogge, which was established to oversee and cut government expenditure under the Trump administration, announced a list of recently canceled expenses, including $ 21 million for “voter voting in India” Were. The department claimed that the US taxpayer dollars were allocated to various international projects, including elections related activities in Moldova, Bangladesh, Nepal and other areas, all of which have now been abolished.
Reacting to Dogi’s announcement, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya alleged that such funding gave the amount of “external intervention” in India’s election process. “Voters $ 21m for voting? This is definitely external interference in India’s election process. Who benefits from it? The ruling party definitely not!” He wrote on X.