FIR Against Sanjay Kumar Over Misleading Data on Maharashtra Elections

Mumbai, Maharashtra (August 20, 2025): An FIR has been registered against Sanjay Kumar, a psephologist and Lokniti-CSDS co-director, for spreading false information and election-related violations in Nagpur, Maharashtra. According to ANI, the complaint cites multiple sections of the BNS, including Sections 175, 353(1)(b), 212, and 340(1)(2). The FIR relates to Kumar’s social media posts on the Maharashtra assembly elections.

Nagpur Police have registered an FIR against Sanjay Kumar, an official from the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), following controversial social media posts related to Maharashtra elections. The FIR has been filed under multiple sections of the BNS, including… pic.twitter.com/FY1m0fYXoq

— ANI (@ANI) August 20, 2025

Kumar had claimed a sharp drop in voter numbers in two assembly constituencies compared to the recent Lok Sabha election. In Ramtek, he said voters fell from 4,66,203 to 2,86,931, a 38.45 per cent decrease. In Devlali, he claimed a decline from 4,56,072 to 2,88,141, a 36.82 per cent decrease.

@CEO_Maharashtra@ECISVEEP@SpokespersonECI
Sanjay Kumar from CSDS, has posted misleading information of voters of 126-Devlali AC for LS-2024 and MH LA-2024, case is registered against him. It is requested to all citizens to verify the info only from ECI website

— DEO Nashik (@Deonashik) August 20, 2025

@ECISVEEP@SpokespersonECI@CEO_Maharashtra Sanjay Kumar from CSDS, has posted misleading information of voters of 59-Ramtek AC for LS-2024 and MH LA-2024, FIR is registered against him. It is requested to all citizens to verify the info only from ECI website.

— DEONagpur (@deo_nagpur) August 20, 2025

The psephologist later apologised and deleted his posts. He said errors occurred while comparing 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly data. He added the mistake was unintentional and he did not mean to spread misinformation.

I sincerely apologize 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.

— Sanjay Kumar (@sanjaycsds) August 19, 2025