The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) announced on August 19 that it will be issuing a show-cause notice to the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) following a misleading social media post by Lokniti co-director Sanjay Kumar.
In the post, Sanjay Kumar claimed there were significant discrepancies in voter numbers across four Maharashtra Assembly constituencies between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. He later deleted the post and publicly apologised, citing a misreading of the data as the cause of the error.
The ICSSR, which operates under the Ministry of Education and provides funding for social science research, said it had taken “serious cognisance” of the matter. In an official statement, the council described the incident as an instance of “data manipulation” and criticised the institute for publishing “media stories based on biased interpretation” of the Election Commission of India’s Sample Verification (SIR) exercise.
“ICSSR takes serious cognisance of the data manipulation by CSDS and its attempt to create a narrative with the intention of undermining the sanctity of the Election Commission 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,” the council said in a post on X.
"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. Futher, the… pic.twitter.com/CVdDEV9SeD
— ANI (@ANI) August 20, 2025
The ICSSR further emphasised its deep respect for the Indian Constitution, stating that it holds it “in the highest esteem.” It also described the Election Commission of India as a “high constitutional body” that has consistently conducted free and fair elections in the world’s largest democracy for decades.
The Now-Deleted Post
The controversy erupted after Sanjay Kumar, a prominent psephologist, shared a post on X highlighting what he claimed were significant discrepancies in voter numbers across four Maharashtra Assembly constituencies, Nashik West, Hingna, Ramtek, and Devlali, between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections.
In the since-deleted post, Kumar cited the following figures
Nashik West Assembly reportedly had 3.28 lakh voters during the Lok Sabha elections, which allegedly rose by 1.55 lakh (47.38%) to 4.83 lakh in the Assembly elections.
Hingna Assembly saw a claimed increase from 3.15 lakh to 4.50 lakh voters — a jump of 1.36 lakh (43.08%).
Ramtek, in contrast, reportedly saw a decrease from 4.66 lakh to 2.87 lakh voters — a drop of 1.80 lakh (38.63%).
Devlali’s voter count was said to have fallen from 4.56 lakh to 2.88 lakh — a reduction of 1.68 lakh (36.84%).
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.— Sanjay Kumar (@sanjay_election) August 19, 2025
Sanjay Kumar retracted the data the following day and issued a public apology, stating: “An error occurred while comparing data from the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Our data team misread the figures in the row. The tweet has since been deleted. I had no intention of spreading any form of misinformation.”
BJP leaders, including the party’s IT Cell head Amit Malviya, seized on Kumar’s apology to push back against the Opposition’s claims. Malviya accused Kumar and the CSDS of promoting what he called the “Congress’s fake narrative on Maharashtra” without properly verifying the data. He dismissed the incident as not genuine analysis, but rather an example of “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
Malviya also challenged the credibility of CSDS, calling for scrutiny of its funding sources, survey methodologies, and previous research findings.
“The very institution whose data Rahul Gandhi used to malign the voters of Maharashtra has now admitted its figures were incorrect… Shameful,” he posted. Malviya further urged Gandhi to abandon his Bihar yatra and apologise to the people of India.
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