By Sonia Sarkar / Aljazeera

New Delhi, India – A private university on the outskirts of India’s capital has faced criticism after one of its faculty members resigned earlier this month following a row over his academic paper that suggested potential electoral “manipulation” on several seats during the 2019 general elections.

The 50-page paper, titled Democratic Backsliding in the World’s Largest Democracy, presents evidence that indicates voter suppression to favour Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Manipulation appears to take the form of targeted electoral discrimination against India’s largest minority group – Muslims, partly facilitated by weak monitoring by election observers. The results present a worrying development for the future of democracy,” the abstract of the paper read.

Sabyasachi Das, who was the assistant professor of economics at Ashoka University – located in the BJP-ruled northern Haryana state – faced backlash from the party’s supporters after he circulated his paper on social media last month.

The university distanced itself from the paper, saying it has “not yet completed a critical review process”. Later, its governing body instituted an inquiry committee to examine the paper’s academic merits after it created a political firestorm.

Meanwhile, Das resigned from his post.

Prior to the new academic session which began on Monday, students and teachers at Ashoka had protested against the exit of the academic, putting the spotlight on declining academic freedom in India.
This story was originally published in aljazeera.com. Read the full story here