Sanjay Kumar, a psephologist with Lokniti-CSDS, issued an apology on August 19 for his earlier post about the Maharashtra elections, which incorrectly suggested a sharp decline in voter turnout in two assembly constituencies compared to the Lok Sabha election held just months before.
“I sincerely apologize for the tweets regarding the Maharashtra elections. An error occurred while comparing data from the 2024 Lok Sabha and 2024 Assembly elections. Our data team misread a row in the dataset. The tweet has been deleted. I had no intention of spreading any misinformation,” the Lokniti-CSDS co-director stated on X.
EC should set a precedent by strict punishment. pic.twitter.com/ICtGqY1L1u
— Shining Star (@ShineHamesha) August 19, 2025
Sanjay Kumar’s apology sparked a fierce backlash from the ruling BJP, which rejected it as “not an honest error.” BJP IT chief Amit Malviya wrote on X, “The apology is in, and Sanjay Kumar is out. When was the last time this protégé of Yogendra Yadav actually got anything right? Before every election, he predicts BJP losses—and when BJP wins, he appears on TV to explain away the results. How convenient. Does he think TV viewers are fools?”
Malviya added, “In his eagerness to support Congress’s false narrative on Maharashtra, CSDS released unverified data. That’s not analysis—that’s confirmation bias.”
The apology is in, and Sanjay Kumar is out. Incidentally, when was the last time this protégé of Yogendra Yadav ever got anything right? In all his projections in the run-up to every single election, the BJP is supposedly losing—and when the reverse happens, he turns up on TV… https://t.co/QXJvUi6d3B
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) August 19, 2025
What was the claim?
In his now-deleted post on the Maharashtra elections, Sanjay Kumar had claimed that in Assembly Constituency 59 (Ramtek), the number of voters dropped from 466,203 in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to 286,931 in the Assembly polls, a decrease of 38.45%. Similarly, in the Devlali constituency, voters reportedly fell from 456,072 in the Lok Sabha election to 288,141 in the Assembly polls, a 36.82% decrease.
Malviya intensified his criticism by stating, “The very institution whose data Rahul Gandhi relied on to malign Maharashtra’s voters has now admitted its figures were wrong, not just for Maharashtra, but even for the SIR.”
The very institution whose data Rahul Gandhi leaned on to defame the voters of Maharashtra has now admitted that its figures were wrong — not just on Maharashtra, but even on SIR.
Where does this leave Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, which brazenly targeted the Election… pic.twitter.com/4o99YDvsMx
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) August 19, 2025
Apology amid Election Commission and I.N.D.I Alliance tussle
Tensions between the I.N.D.I Alliance and the Election Commission of India (ECI) escalated sharply on August 7, when Rahul Gandhi accused the poll body of “vote chori” (vote theft) in the Mahadevapura assembly constituency of Congress-ruled Karnataka, using Kumar’s Maharashtra data to attack the ECI and the BJP.
Rahul Gandhi also condemned the ECI’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar as a “conspiracy to steal” the upcoming assembly elections.
The ECI strongly rejected these allegations as “misleading.” Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar called the use of terms like “vote chori” disrespectful to the Constitution. At a press conference, the CEC dismissed claims of double voting and vote theft as baseless and affirmed that all efforts were being made to conduct the Bihar SIR transparently.
Gyanesh Kumar challenged Rahul Gandhi to provide a sworn declaration within seven days supporting his claims, warning that failure to do so would render the allegations baseless and invalid. He added that those making unfounded accusations should apologize to the nation.
I.N.D.I Alliance considers impeaching CEC
Amid the ongoing conflict, the I.N.D.I Alliance on August 18 raised the possibility of impeaching Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing him of acting as a “BJP spokesman” and intimidating opposition parties. They claimed the Election Commission is no longer capable of ensuring a fair electoral process and is led by officials who block investigations into voter fraud.
Though the impeachment proposal was only briefly discussed in a coordination meeting and is not yet final, the I.N.D.I Alliance confirmed it had broad consensus among its allies and is amplifying the call for Kumar’s removal.
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