How Analyst’s Retraction Of Maharashtra Data Complicates Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote Chori’ Claim

Last Updated:August 19, 2025, 19:55 IST

Kumar’s apology for a data error has intensified the political debate over voter rolls, electoral transparency, and the credibility of supporting research.

Rahul Gandhi addresses a rally as part of 'Voter Adhikar Yatra', in Sasaram. (AICC via PTI)

The opposition’s ‘vote chori’ claim faced a new twist on Tuesday after Sanjay Kumar, Co-Director of Lokniti – a Research Programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), retracted a social media post highlighting dramatic voter anomalies in four constituencies in Maharashtra.

Kumar’s apology for a data error has intensified the political debate over voter rolls, electoral transparency, and the credibility of supporting research.

On Monday, Kumar posted on X suggesting the registered voters increased by about 45% in Nashik West and Hingna, while Ramtek and Devlali saw nearly a 40% drop. The changes appeared between the Lok Sabha (Lok Sabha) and Assembly elections.

The post from him on Tuesday said he “sincerely apologised" for the posts 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," the X post reads.

The ‘error’

In two of the now-deleted posts, Kumar claimed that Nashik West Assembly had 3.28 lakh in the Lok Sabha polls. This increased by 1.55 lakh voters (47.38%) to 4.83 lakh in the Vidhan Sabha elections.

In Hingna Assembly, the rolls expanded from 3.15 lakh to 4.50 lakh, adding 1.36 lakh voters (43.08%).

The opposite happened in two other assemblies with close to 40% vote drop – Ramtek Assembly saw close to 1.80 lakh voters decline from 4.66 lakh in the Lok Sabha to 2.87 lakh in the Vidhan Sabha polls. In the Devlali Assembly, the count dropped by 1.68 lakh — from 4.56 lakh to 2.88 lakh during the same period.

An analysis of official data from the ECI by News18 – while announcing the schedule for the two elections in the state – shows that the state had 9.23 crore voters on March 30, 2024. This increased to 9.63 crore on October 15, 2024 – an addition of over 40 lakh voters also covering the deleted voters.

The voter list for an election freezes on the first day of the nomination process – usually a month before the election date.

Lok Sabha elections were held in the state in five phases between April 19 and May 20, 2024 while assembly polls in November last year.

News18 had contacted Kumar for a comment but has not responded so far.

Impact on ‘Vote Chori’ campaign

Since February this year, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had been claiming that several irregularities took place in the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

He said that between the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the 2024 Assembly elections, 39 lakh new voters were added – more than the total adult population of the state and also more than the addition of voters in the state between 2019 and 2024.

The data shared by Kumar was only about four assemblies in Maharashtra, and was used as a supporting document by some of the opposition leaders.

While CSDS data was not the basis of the ‘vote chori’ campaign – launched by Gandhi earlier this month – it did contribute to the ongoing political discourse surrounding electoral integrity in the state.

Gandhi officially launched the ‘vote chori’ campaign against the ECI earlier this month after he shared the details of the one lakh fake voters from an assembly segment in Bengaluru. The campaign was launched days before the posts from Kumar.

Gandhi and team have also been demanding machine readable voter lists for a number of states, including Maharashtra.

While Gandhi did not use the deleted data, senior Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera used it for two now-deleted posts on X, where he cited the numbers shared by Kumar on Monday.

BJP, poll body’s reaction on apology post

Interestingly, while the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Office (CEO) has not reacted to the ‘apology’ post on X, the Bihar CEO has posted a screenshot of the now-deleted post from Kumar while reacting to his apology post.

“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. His TWEET is deleted now but a screenshot is attached. His data was quoted by many INC & Opposition leaders for questioning EC," the Bihar CEO said.

BJP leaders are also using the ‘apology’ post to counter the ‘vote chori’ allegations.

BJP IT Department in-charge Amit Malviya, in a series of posts on X, said that the very institution whose data Gandhi leaned on to defame the voters of Maharashtra has now admitted that its figures were wrong, asking where does this leave Gandhi and the Congress, “which brazenly targeted the Election Commission and went so far as to brand genuine voters as fake? Shameful."

He went on to say that in his exuberance to feed Congress’s fake narrative on Maharashtra, CSDS put out data without verification. “That is not analysis—it is confirmation bias."

“Rahul Gandhi must immediately abandon his “घुसपैठिया बचाओ यात्रा" in Bihar and tender an unconditional apology to the people of India for his callous and regressive politics," he said on one of the posts.

Gandhi is holding a ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar as a part of his ‘vote chori’ campaign. The 16-day yatra will cover over 20 districts and 1,300 km before concluding in Patna on September 1.

In another post, he said that the CSDS has long positioned itself as a research institution, “but a closer look at its funding sources, survey designs, and outputs reveals a troubling pattern…."

The fight between the Opposition and the ECI over the ‘vote chori’ allegations is far from over. While this ‘apology’ may be used against the Opposition’s claim, the broader debate over voter roll discrepancies and electoral transparency in Maharashtra is likely to continue. With Bihar elections approaching and the SIR drive underway in the state, voter roll discrepancies and electoral transparency will remain a key flashpoint in the coming days.

Nivedita Singh

Nivedita Singh is a data journalist and covers the Election Commission, Indian Railways and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. She has nearly seven years of experience in the news media. She tweets @nived...Read More

Nivedita Singh is a data journalist and covers the Election Commission, Indian Railways and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. She has nearly seven years of experience in the news media. She tweets @nived...

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First Published:

August 19, 2025, 19:54 IST

News explainers How Analyst’s Retraction Of Maharashtra Data Complicates Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Vote Chori’ Claim

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