India, Feb. 17 -- A row has broken out over the US Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) tweet that it has cancelled funding of "$21 million for (improving) voter turnout in India". Senior government functionaries and BJP leaders have waded into the controversy by demanding to know who got these funds, disbursed under the aegis of USAID, the American donor agency now in the crosswires of the Trump administration, and what was it deployed for. The BJP IT cell head described it as "external interference in India's electoral process".

The India project, reportedly, was among several such initiatives supported by the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS), an NGO funded by USAID. DOGE said it cancelled CE...