NEW DELHI: The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) has issued a show cause notice to the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) for allegedly fudging data while presenting comparative voting patterns in two assembly segments of Maharashtra for the 2024 Lok Sabha and state elections. The CSDS had done this amid the high-voltage 'Vote Chori' campaign by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
The ICSSR, which was established in the year 1969, operates under the aegis of the Ministry of Education and is the Centre's top body for research in social and human sciences, and the CSDS is supported by it.
The ICSSR said posted 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." It went on to add that 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 Commission of India is a high constitutional body which has been holding free and fair elections in the largest democracy of world for decades together," the ICSSR said, while noting that it "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 poll panel."
"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 ICSSR noted.
Incidentally, the controversy kicked off after Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera posted a graphic on X on August 18 and claimed massive discrepancies between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly electoral rolls.
Citing Lokniti-CSDS data, Khera claimed that Ramtek and Deolali constituencies lost nearly 40 per cent of their electorate within six months and on the other hand, Nashik West and Hingna gained between 43 per cent and 47 per cent.
Sanjay Kumar, the professor and co-director of Lokniti, a research wing at the CSDS, on August 17, in his now-deleted X post, claimed that Nashik West's electorate had swelled from 3,28,053 in the Lok Sabha rolls to 4,83,459 in the Assembly rolls, which was around 47.38 per cent. For Hingna, he claimed the increase was 42.08 per cent.
These figures suggested abnormal and implausible growth. They were promptly amplified by opposition leaders, including Khera as they questioned the credibility of the Election Commission.
However, on August 19, Kumar issued a public apology through his X post as he said, "I sincerely apologise 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."
Even the Election Commission of India, while commenting on the data row, said, "CSDS Sanjay Kumar apologised for the tweet posted regarding Maharashtra assembly elections. He said that error occurred while comparing data of 2024 LS and 2024 AS. TWEET is deleted now. His data was quoted by many INC & Opposition leaders for questioning EC."