ICSSR to issue notice to CSDS over ‘manipulation' of Maharashtra poll data

Indian Express

13 hours ago

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 over an erroneous claim made by Sanjay Kumar — professor and co-director of Lokniti, a research programme at the CSDS — in a social media post that two constituencies in Maharashtra had shown a significant fall in the numbers of voters between the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls last year.
The ICSSR, which operates under the aegis of the Ministry of Education, is the government's apex body for research in social and human sciences. The CSDS is supported by the ICSSR.
On August 17, Kumar had posted on X that Ramtek and Devlali in Maharashtra had shown 36-38% decrease in number of voters between the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Maharashtra.
On Tuesday, he apologised for the post. 'I sincerely apologize for the tweets posted regarding Maharashtra elections. Error occurred while comparing data of 2024 LS and 2024 AS. The data in row was misread by our Data team. The tweet has since been removed. I had no intention of dispersing any form of misinformation,' Kumar said in a post on X.
The Indian Express tried to contact Kumar for his comment but he could not be reached.
The ICSSR accused CSDS of 'data manipulation' to create a 'narrative with the intention of undermining the sanctity of the Election Commission of India'. 'It has come to the notice of ICSSR that an individual holding responsible position at CSDS, an ICSSR-funded research institute, has made media statements that had to be retracted subsequently citing glitches in data analysis regarding elections in Maharashtra. Further, the institute has published media stories based on biased interpretation of the SIR exercise by the Election Commission of India. ICSSR holds the Indian Constitution in highest esteem. Election Commision of India is a high constitutional body which has been holding free and fair elections in the largest democracy of world for decades together. ICSSR takes serious cognizance of the data manipulation by CSDS and its attempt to create a narrative with the intention of undermining the sanctity of the Election Commision of India. This is a gross violation of the grant-in-aid rules of ICSSR, and ICSSR shall issue a show cause notice to the institute,' it said in a post on X.
Earlier in the day, the Bihar Chief Electoral Officer also weighed in on the issue. 'CSDS Sanjay Kumar apologized for the tweet posted regarding Maharashtra Assembly elections. He said that error occurred while comparing data of 2024 LS and 2024 AS. His tweet is deleted now but a screenshot is attached. His data was quoted by many INC & Opposition leaders for questioning EC,' the CEO said on X.
Addressing a press conference, the BJP alleged that Kumar's post on X was used as propaganda by the Congress to discredit the electoral process. BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said Kumar deleted the post after 40 hours, during which the wrong data was used as 'propaganda' by Congress leaders Pawan Khera and Rahul Gandhi. 'Congress leader Pawan Khera tweets on this and then deletes. Rahul Gandhi's baseless allegations are also based on CSDS data,' Bhatia said.
He said 34,000 people viewed Kumar's post before it was deleted. 'They call themselves a survey agency but are puppets in the hands of leaders like Rahul Gandhi. They (Congress) want an agency to publicise fake data. This is a factory, a machine of dishing out lies,' he said.
The BJP accused Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi of making 'false and baseless allegations of vote chori' against the Election Commission, in collusion with the CSDS.
Reacting to this, Khera said: 'This is called clutching at straws. The BJP ecosystem knows pretty well that they have been caught red-handed indulging in vote chori.'