The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the FIR registered by Maharashtra Police against Sanjay Kumar, director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), over his social media posts analysing the voting patterns for the 2024 elections in the state.
In the X posts on August 17, Kumar pointed to purported mismatches regarding the increase and decrease of voters in certain constituencies. However, on August 19, he withdrew the posts and apologised, stating that the earlier comments were based on wrong analysis and data submitted by his expert.
Kumar’s apology at that time had generated considerable debate in the wake of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s sustained campaign against “vote theft” in Bengaluru’s Mahadevapura constituency and other places in the country.
Officials of the Election Commission had registered FIRs against Kumar for alleged offences under the BNS.
A bench of Chief Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice N.V. Anjaria stayed the FIR after initially expressing the view that the petitioner should have moved Bombay High Court
for relief.
The counsel for Kumar pleaded that the FIRs were registered despite his client apologising immediately and deleting the posts. He pleaded that Kumar was a highly respected person with impeccable integrity who had served the country selflessly for over 30 years.
It was submitted that Kumar had acknowledged it was a bona fide mistake and had accordingly tendered his apology and deleted the posts, yet, he was being saddled with criminal cases.
On August 17, the psephologist and co-director of CSDS had claimed on social media that the voter turnout in Maharashtra during last year’s Lok Sabha and Assembly elections had shown unusual shifts, notably a 36 to 38 per cent fall in Ramtek and Devlali, and at the same time recorded a rise of 47 and 43 per cent in Nashik West and Higna, respectively.