There is a limit to how far political desperation can be dressed up as intellectual credibility. The Congress party, battered by successive electoral defeats and staring at another drubbing, has now latched on to dubious data from psephologist Sanjay Kumar, Co-Director of Lokniti-CSDS, to manufacture a fake scandal against the Election Commission of India (ECI). This is not just reckless politicking; it is an outright assault on the credibility of a constitutional body. And in this dangerous game, both the Congress and its newfound “academic ally” stand exposed.
Sanjay Kumar admitted that he had peddled wrong data suggesting a massive drop in the voter lists, especially in Maharashtra—a claim eagerly amplified by the Congress ecosystem as “proof” that the Narendra Modi government and the ECI were engaged in systematic disenfranchisement. The apology, predictably, came only after the damage was done. Yet, instead of exercising restraint, Kumar went one step further and published an article in a national English daily on August 17, once again harping on the so-called “mystery” of missing voters. If this is not brazen complicity in political conspiracy, what else is it?
More disturbingly, Kumar himself has admitted that Lokniti-CSDS has received foreign funding, including from the Ford Foundation and other dubious NGO outfits notorious for peddling anti-India narratives. This raises a serious question: is this merely academic negligence or part of a larger toolkit conspiracy designed to destabilize an elected government? The NIA would do well to investigate these links in the interest of national security. Kudos to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami for holding the so-called “top psephologist” to account.
Meanwhile, the Congress machinery, always hungry for a fresh stick to beat the Modi government with, wasted no time. Party leaders and their friendly media outlets went into overdrive with Rahul Gandhi, leading the campaign from the front, projecting the false data as evidence of “vote chori.” In the age of social media virality, lies travel faster than truth. And that was precisely the intent—to plant suspicion in the minds of ordinary voters, to create distrust in the ECI, and to delegitimize upcoming elections before a single vote is even cast.
This is not an innocent academic error. This is not a case of “miscalculation.” When a psephologist of Sanjay Kumar’s stature knowingly puts flawed numbers into the public domain, the political consequences are enormous. He cannot plead ignorance. He cannot hide behind apologies. By handing Congress ammunition to attack the very institution tasked with safeguarding Indian democracy, Kumar has crossed the line from research to propaganda. He has, in effect, aided and abetted a dangerous attempt to malign the ECI.
Let us be clear: India’s Election Commission is not beyond criticism. Like every institution, it can and must be held accountable. But deliberate falsehoods masquerading as data are not accountability—they are sabotage. The Congress knows it cannot win elections through popular mandate. Its only remaining strategy is to delegitimize the process itself, to portray the ECI as compromised and the voter list as manipulated. This is the same script they used when they screamed “EVM hacking” without a shred of proof. Now, with Kumar’s “data blunder,” they have found a fresh excuse to cry foul.
The danger here goes far beyond party politics. Once faith in the ECI is eroded, the entire edifice of electoral democracy is shaken. If voters begin to believe that their names can be arbitrarily struck off, or that the system is rigged, it creates cynicism, disillusionment, and anger. It opens the door for chaos on polling day, manufactured agitations, and post-election violence. That is precisely why such false narratives cannot be brushed aside as “errors.” They are calculated moves in a larger conspiracy to destabilize the democratic process.
It is worth asking: should Sanjay Kumar not be held accountable in the same way politicians are? Especially, Rahul Gandhi. He should not only be prosecuted by debarred from contesting any elections and holding public office. After all, his actions have had direct political consequences. He (Sanjay Kumar) is no neutral academic bystander; he became an active player in the Congress’s smear campaign. His apology is hollow when followed immediately by another article repeating the same insinuations. This is not repentance—it is persistence.
The Congress party, which once prided itself as the guardian of Indian democracy, has now reduced itself to a shopfront for lies and conspiracies. And Lokniti-CSDS, once regarded as a credible research body, risks being remembered as a willing accomplice in its “vote chori” propaganda. Both deserve to be called out. Both must be held accountable.
In the final reckoning, this episode is not just about false data—it is about intent. The Congress intends to undermine trust in the electoral process. Sanjay Kumar enabled it. And the Election Commission, instead of being weakened by such conspiracies, must come down heavily and set an example. India’s democracy cannot and will not be hijacked by those who have already lost the people’s mandate and now seek to steal it by crying “vote chori.”
