What Is CSDS and the CSDS Data?

Here's the breakdown:

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What Is CSDS and the CSDS Data?

CSDS stands for the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, a well-established Delhi-based research institute founded in 1963 that focuses on social sciences and humanities. It operates independently and is recognized for its scholarly contributions to understanding India's democratic politics .

Within CSDS is a programme called Lokniti, launched in 1997, which specializes in data-driven research on electoral patterns, democracy, voting behaviors, and political attitudes. Lokniti maintains a wide-ranging archive of surveys—including National Election Studies, State Assembly Election Studies, and a broad Data Unit that curates decades of electoral data .

When people refer to "CSDS data", they typically mean survey or election-related data produced or archived by CSDS/Lokniti, used in academic, media, and political analysis.

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Why Did Sanjay Kumar Apologize for the Wrong Data?

On August 19, 2025, Sanjay Kumar, a psephologist and co-director of Lokniti-CSDS, issued an apology and deleted a social media post containing incorrect voter turnout data for two Maharashtra assembly constituencies .

What Was the Error?

He had posted that voter counts in two constituencies dropped dramatically from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections:

Ramtek (AC-59): From 466,203 voters in the Lok Sabha polls to 286,931 in the Assembly elections—a 38.45% decrease.

Devlali: From 456,072 down to 288,141—a 36.82% drop .

Later, he admitted that the figures were wrong due to a data misreading—specifically, an error in interpreting a row in the dataset. He clarified that the post was a misinterpretation, not an intentional misinformation, and removed it after issuing a public apology .

The Political Fallout

This apology came amid a heated political context: Rahul Gandhi had cited such data to allege "vote chori" (vote theft) and criticize the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the Election Commission's credibility .

Gandhi used those numbers during his "Voter Adhikar Yatra" campaign to question the fairness of voter rolls.

After the error surfaced, the BJP seized the opportunity to ridicule the narrative, accusing the Congress and CSDS of pushing confirmation bias, and demanding an apology from Rahul Gandhi .

Meanwhile, the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, demanded that Rahul Gandhi either present his claims under oath (file an affidavit within seven days) or publicly apologise—failing which his allegations would be deemed "baseless and invalid" .

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Summary

CSDS data refers to empirical research and survey findings from the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, especially via its Lokniti programme.

Sanjay Kumar apologized because he had misread a dataset and posted inaccurate voter turnout figures for two Maharashtra constituencies—figures that were later leveraged by Rahul Gandhi in his campaign against the Election Commission.

This misstep triggered political backlash, especially from the BJP, and raised questions about the use and verification of such data in politically charged narratives.

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