Thousands of aspirants protest outside UPPSC headquarters in Prayagraj over exam format

UPPSC aspirants protest against multiple exam dates, shifts; demand fairness, transparency; clash with police; political parties react.

Thousands of Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) aspirants staged a protest outside the headquarters of the commission in Prayagraj on Monday (November 11, 2024) against the decision to conduct the Review Officer and Assistant Review Officer (RO-ARO) examination and the Provincial Civil Service (PCS) preliminary examination on different dates and in multiple shifts.

The protesters, who were demanding that the exams be conducted in a single shift on the same day, clashed with the police after they were prevented from holding a scheduled sit-in at Gate no. 2 and 3 of the commission. The police resorted to lathi charge to disperse the agitators, who gathered at a nearby intersection.

“Our main demand is that PCS and RO/ARO examinations should be conducted on the same day in a single shift. We suspect that if this examination is held on different days, there may be lack of transparency in the paper and the possibility of rigging may increase. We believe that conducting the examination on the same day will ensure fairness and equal opportunity,” said Ujjwal Patel, a protester who came from Mirzapur.

“The commission in the past conducted exams in one shift and one day. Now, conducting the paper in two shifts for two days is not fair, amid serious doubts on transparency of the examination and efficiency of government agencies due to recent paper leaks,” said Vishwajeet, another aspirant.

Over 10 lakh people had applied for the RO/ARO (preliminary) examination held in February 2024, but it was cancelled by the Uttar Pradesh government following a paper leak.

The Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) said the use of force on aspirants showed that the government was scared as providing jobs to youth was not its agenda. “The lathi charge by the anti-youth BJP on students is a highly condemnable act. When the aspirants raised their demands to stop the rigging in UPPSC in Allahabad, the corrupt BJP government became violent. We repeat again, jobs are not on the agenda of the BJP,” SP president Akhilesh Yadav said in a post, along with a video of the protest, on X.

Nagina MP and Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) president Chandra Shekhar Aazad said, “Flowers were showered on the hypocrites and lathi charges were done on the youth when they asked for jobs. Today once again the anti-youth face of the Yogi government has been exposed. The lathi charge on students demanding jobs and stopping the rigging in UPPSC in Allahabad is highly condemnable. That is why I say that jobs and employment are not in the agenda of BJP, their agenda is only to throw the youth into the fire of communalism.”