Criminal Proceedings Initiated Against Psephologist Sanjay Kumar:
The Supreme Court recently stayed criminal proceedings initiated against psephologist Sanjay Kumar for a social media post concerning an erroneous analysis of the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election.
- Psephology is a branch of political science that deals with the scientific analysis of elections or polls.
- This field is dedicated to offering a meticulous quantitative analysis of elections.
- The toolbox of psephology encompasses a variety of instruments employed for the statistical examination of election data.
- These invaluable tools include voting data, opinion polls, campaign insights, and related datasets.
- Those who wield the expertise of psephology are known as Psephologists.
- Psephologists study the patterns of elections, using past voting figures and their percentage, public opinion polls and other related information.
- They estimate the results of the public opinion for the future elections using statistical applications.
- India does not have an actual post called ‘Psephologist’.
- However, some major parties have in-house analysts who can be called Psephologists.
- Several accomplished media editors, political analysts, and marketing research scientists double up as Psephologists.
