Research paper by faculty member lands Ashoka University in political row

A research paper by a faculty member of Ashoka University has landed the prestigious private university at the centre of political slugfest between the Congress and BJP.

It hinted at possibilities of voter manipulation during the 2019 polls, has drawn sharp reactions from both sides of the political spectrum. The university has distanced itself from the research paper.

The paper, Democratic Backsliding In The World’s Largest Democracy, is authored by Sabyasachi Das, an assistant professor of economics at the university.

Mr Das, while stating that the BJP’s disproportionate win of closely contested constituencies is largely concentrated in states ruled by the party at the time of election, argues that the density of the incumbent party’s win margin variable exhibited a discontinuous jump at the threshold value of zero. This, he wrote, implied that the BJP won disproportionately more in constituencies where it was the incumbent party and which were closely contested.

An abstract of the paper, which was posted on social media on Monday, stated that the research in it “contributes to the discussion by documenting irregular patterns in the 2019 general election in India and identifying whether they are due to electoral manipulation or precise control, i.e., the incumbent party’s ability to precisely predict and affect win margins through campaigning”.

Congress MP from Kerala Shashi Tharoor tweeted that if “...the Election Commission and/or the Government of India have answers available to refute these arguments, they should provide them in detail. The evidence presented does not lend itself to political attacks on a serious scholar. E.g. the discrepancy in vote tallies needs to be explained, since it can’t be wished away”.

BJP MPs questioned the validity of the research. Party MP from Jharkhand Nishikant Dubey tweeted, “...It is fine to differ with the BJP on matters of policy but this is taking it too far... how can someone in the name of half-baked research discredit India’s vibrant poll process? How can any University allow it? Answers needed- this is not a good

enough response.”