CSDS in soup over Maharashtra voter 'data manipulation', ICSSR to issue showcause notice

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) The Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), in the eye of the storm over the publication of erroneous voter list data regarding the Maharashtra Assembly elections, is set to receive a show-cause notice soon.

The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), the government body that funds the CSDS, took note of the data bungling by the research institute and held it accountable for undermining the sanctity of the Election Commission of India, the polling body that conducts and oversees elections across the country.

ICSSR said that it has taken note of CSDS’s attempt to create a certain narrative with ‘data manipulation’ and asserted that this was a gross violation of the Grant-in-Aid rules and therefore will issue a show-cause notice to it.

The stern warning by the ICSSR follows a highly publicised controversy, which saw the CSDS co-director and prominent psephologist Sanjay Kumar sharing voter data about the sudden drop in two Maharashtra constituencies -- Ramtek and Deolali and hinting at serious electoral malpractice, but then withdrawing it hours later, with an apology.

He claimed that there was a 38.4 per cent drop in Ramtek and a 36.8 per cent drop in Deolali in the number of voters between the Lok Sabha polls 2024 and the Assembly elections 2024.

His post was subsequently picked up by many Congress leaders who put it as evidence to their ‘vote chori’ narrative in Maharashtra.

As the issue snowballed into a big issue, the CSDS director claimed that there was an inadvertent error on its part, something which the BJP didn’t buy and accused it of putting fake data and an opportunity to the Opposition to fuel the latter's voter fraud claims.

ICSSR took objection to CSDS’ goof-up and, in a strongly worded criticism, posted on X, “It has come to the notice of ICSSR that an individual holding a 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.”

The ICSSR also pulled up the institute for publishing ‘slanted’ stories based on a biased interpretation of the SIR exercise, being conducted by the Election Commission of India, an institution which it holds in the highest esteem.

--IANS

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