Sanjay Kumar is an Indian political analyst and psephologist. He served as the director of Centre for the Study of Developing Societies from January 2014 to January 2020.^[1] His primarily areas of interest lies are electoral politics, political mobilization, Indian youth and Indian democracy. He has conducted research on a wide range of themes, including state of democracy in South Asia, state of Indian farmers, electoral violence and slums of Delhi.^[2][3]

He graduated with B.A in Political Science from Ramjas College, University of Delhi in 1988.^[4] He completed his Masters and M. Phil from University of Delhi. He studied survey research at the University of Michigan Survey Research Center.^{[citation needed]}

He succeeded Rajeev Bhargava as Director of Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in 2014. He serves as co-director of Lokniti Programme. He has published widely, written and edited books, contributed chapters for edited volumes and published articles in national and international research journals.^[5]

He writes regularly for national and regional newspapers, in English and Hindi. His articles are published regularly in The Hindu,^[6] The Indian Express, The Asian Age,^[7] Deccan Chronicle,^[8] Dainik Bhaskar, Rajasthan Patrika and The Mint.^[9][10] He frequently appears on Indian television as a psephologist and political commentator.^[11][12] He has also served as an international election observer in many countries.^[13]