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PCS Mains result: Oppn alleges irregularities, commission refutes charges
Punjab Congress chief Pargat Singh demanded a factual and transparent explanation from the PPSC over the alleged irregularities. The SAD accused the government of failing to ensure transparency in public recruitment
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Opposition parties hit out at the state government on Thursday, alleging irregularities in the recently declared results of the Punjab Civil Services (PCS) Mains examination.
Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress, and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) demanded an immediate and time-bound probe by an independent agency into the “irregularities”, even as the Punjab Public Service Commission, which conducted the exam, refuted the allegations.
BJP MP Tarun Chugh and former state party chief Sunil Jakhar said the aspirants have alleged that roll numbers of individuals who did not even appear for the examination have figured in the list of successful candidates. Both leaders demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.
“Serious questions have been raised over 24.21% of shortlisted candidates coming from a single examination centre; 86 candidates being shortlisted in clusters of three or four consecutive roll numbers; and individual examination rooms producing 10 to 11 shortlisted candidates,” said Jakhar.
“Questions have been raised over the shortlisting of only 751 candidates against 331 advertised vacancies, despite a requirement to call three times the number of candidates for interviews,” he added.
“Is this merely a coincidence, or was there a special arrangement to favour selected candidates right from roll number allocation and examination centre allotment to the final results?” Chugh asked in a statement. He also shot off a letter to Punjab governor Gulab Chand Kataria, demanding an immediate halt to the selection process, and preservation of all relevant records and evidence until the investigation is completed. Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon too alleged grave irregularities in the process.
Punjab Congress chief Pargat Singh demanded a factual and transparent explanation from the PPSC over the alleged irregularities. The SAD accused the government of failing to ensure transparency in public recruitment.
Misinterpretation of statistical data: PPSC
Rejecting the charges, the PPSC described them as a misinterpretation of statistical data. Speaking to HT, PPSC chairman Maj Gen Vinayak Saini (retd) said the concentrations of successful candidates fell well within the range of expected random variation.
He further said that the commission had put in place stringent security arrangements to ensure a fair examination. These included CCTV cameras at examination centre entrances and control rooms, biometric attendance systems, jammers in every classroom and comprehensive videography of candidates, he added.
Later, in a statement, the commission said the examination was held at 12 centres in Patiala. “Centre strengths ranged from 118 to 553 candidates, with 3,959 examinees appearing in total. (As many as) 751 candidates were shortlisted for interview, with an overall success rate of about 19% (after accounting for absentees),” it said.
“The claim that over 24% of the successful candidates came from one centre is incorrect. The highest number of candidates shortlisted from any single centre is 106 of 751, which is 14.1% of the total. That centre also had one of the largest numbers of candidates (496 candidates, the second largest of the 12 centres), so a larger share of qualifiers is expected,” it added.
“Considering that 751 candidates have been shortlisted out of 179 classrooms, reports that 10 candidates from a single classroom cleared the examination in at least three different centres are within the range of random variation given the overall success rate of about 19%,” it said.
An analysis of the Punjab PCS Mains shortlists for 2018, 2020 and 2025 shows that consecutive roll numbers appear in every list, it further said. No absent candidate has been declared qualified. Biometric and manual attendance took place at all exam centres, it said. PPSC shortlisted three times the number of eligible candidates, wherever available in each category as per rules and advertisement, it said.
