- ICSSR said it will issue a show cause notice to CSDS after professor Sanjay Kumar posted incorrect voter data from Maharashtra polls.
- Kumar admitted the error, saying his team misread the figures, and deleted the post after apologising on X.
- BJP accused Congress of using the erroneous data as propaganda against the Election Commission, while Congress dismissed the charge as “clutching at straws.”
The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) on Tuesday said it will issue a show cause notice to the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) after a senior faculty member posted incorrect data on voter turnout in Maharashtra, sparking political controversy.
The ICSSR, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education, accused CSDS of “data manipulation” and attempting to “undermine the sanctity of the Election Commission of India.” CSDS is one of the research institutions funded by ICSSR.
The row began on August 17, when Sanjay Kumar, professor and co-director of Lokniti at CSDS, claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that voter numbers had fallen by 36–38% in Ramtek and Devlali constituencies between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The post was later deleted.
On Tuesday, Kumar issued an apology, saying the error occurred due to “misreading of data” by his team. “I sincerely apologize for the tweets posted regarding Maharashtra elections. The tweet has since been removed. I had no intention of dispersing any form of misinformation,” he said.
In a statement, ICSSR said: “It has come to notice that an individual holding responsible position at CSDS… made media statements that had to be retracted citing glitches in data analysis. Further, the institute has published media stories based on biased interpretation of the SIR exercise by the Election Commission of India. ICSSR takes serious cognizance of this data manipulation… This is a gross violation of the grant-in-aid rules of ICSSR, and ICSSR shall issue a show cause notice to the institute.”
The controversy widened after the Bihar Chief Electoral Officer flagged that Kumar’s erroneous data was amplified by opposition leaders to question the Election Commission.
At a press conference, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia accused the Congress of using the post as “propaganda” against the electoral process. “They call themselves a survey agency but are puppets in the hands of Rahul Gandhi. This is a factory of lies,” Bhatia said, adding that Congress leaders Pawan Khera and Rahul Gandhi had cited the figures before Kumar deleted the post.
The BJP accused Rahul Gandhi of making “false allegations of vote theft” against the Election Commission in “collusion with CSDS.”
Responding, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera dismissed the BJP’s charges, saying: “This is called clutching at straws. The BJP ecosystem knows pretty well that they have been caught red-handed indulging in vote chori.”