Government research apex body to send notice to CSDS for Maharashtra poll data error

The Indian Council of Social Science Research, a government body, on Tuesday said that it will issue a show-cause notice to the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies over an erroneous claim made by the research institute about the voter numbers in Maharashtra.

The ICSSR, which reports to the Union education ministry, oversees research in social and human sciences.

The CSDS, a research institute for social sciences and humanities, is a recipient of ICSSR funding.

Sanjay Kumar, the co-director of the CSDS-affiliated Lokniti programme, had claimed on Sunday that two Assembly constituencies in Maharashtra – Ramtek and Deolali – had witnessed a significant drop in the number of voters between the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

The general election took place in April and May 2024 and the state polls in November 2024.

In a social media post, which was later removed, Kumar claimed that there had been a 38.4% drop in Ramtek and a 36.8% drop in Deolali. The post included specific figures, citing a decrease of around 1.7 lakh voters in each constituency.

In Ramtek, Congress candidate Shyamkumar Barve won the Lok Sabha seat with more than 48% of the votes. Six months later, the Shiv Sena’s Ashish Jaiswal won the Ramtek Assembly segment with more than 52%.

In Deolali, a segment of the Nashik Lok...

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