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MBBS graduate from AIIMS Jodhpur, Anuj Agnihotri tops 2025 UPSC exam
According to the UPSC, a total of 937,876 candidates applied for the examination, with 576,793 actually appearing for the preliminary exam on May 25, 2025.
Anuj Agnihotri, a 26-year-old MBBS graduate from AIIMS Jodhpur, has secured the first rank in the coveted Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2025, results announced Friday showed. Rajeshwari Suve M from Tamil Nadu and Akansh Dhull from Panchkula obtained the second and third ranks, respectively.
The commission, according to a statement, recommended 958 candidates – 659 men and 299 women – for appointment to various services. The number is marginally lower than the 1,009 recommended last year and 1,016 the year before.
According to the UPSC statement, a total of 937,876 candidates applied for the examination, with 576,793 actually appearing for the preliminary exam on May 25, 2025. A total of 14,161 candidates qualified for the written main examination, and 2,736 of those proceeded to the personality test.
Agnihotri, from Rawatbhata in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh district, qualified in his third attempt with Medical Science as his optional subject. The MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) graduate from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-Jodhpur is currently undergoing probation as a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) in Delhi after being selected for the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service (DANICS) – a Group-B civil service – in 2025, he expressed disbelief at his achievement.
“I was at home when the results were announced. It is yet to sink in. I am from a place called Rawatbhata in Rajasthan. This was my third attempt. I completed my schooling in Rajasthan and later earned my MBBS degree from AIIMS Jodhpur. I am a probationer in the 2025-27 DANICS batch. I saw the results and found my name on the top. I cannot describe my feelings,” he said.
His father, KB Agnihotri, a supervisor at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station, told news agency PTI that he attributed the success to his son’s consistent hard work, noting that Anuj had been excellent in his studies from the beginning.
Second-ranked Rajeshwari Suve M, a BE graduate in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Anna University, Chennai, qualified with Sociology as her optional. She is currently a deputy collector in Tamil Nadu after topping the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) in 2024.
Rajeshwari told news agency PTI that her journey to the top of rankings was a marathon of persistence that began shortly after her graduation in 2017. “It has been a long journey for me. It had its own challenges, but I had to address the faults I made in previous attempts,” she was quoted as saying.
“I made a SWOT analysis for my own tests and performance. It needs persistence, and family support was the main pillar for me,” she added.
Akansh Dhull, a B.Com graduate from Delhi University’s Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), secured the third rank with Commerce & Accountancy as his optional subject. Previously selected in 2023 and 2024, he was working in the Indian Audit and Accounts Service. Dhull had secured AIR 342 in his first attempt and AIR 295 in his second.
Dhull said he began preparing during his second year of college and said the journey was shaped by learning from early mistakes. “In the beginning, I made technical mistakes in answer writing and sometimes became overconfident. It took me time to refine my writing and introspect after each attempt,” he said.
His previous attempt saw him score relatively lower in the personality test, which he described as a “huge setback”. “But I had a dream and I had to keep going,” he said.
The son of Krishan Dhull, a former office bearer of the Haryana State Council for Child Welfare, and a government school principal, he credited his father for nurturing his civil services dream early on.
The top 25 candidates comprise 11 women and 14 men, with educational qualifications ranging from engineering, humanities, science, commerce, law, medical science, and mass media from premier institutions including IIT, NLU, AIIMS, DTU, Anna University, Delhi University, and Mumbai University.
The recommended candidates include 42 persons with benchmark disability. This year’s vacancies include 180 for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), 55 for Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and 150 for Indian Police Service (IPS), with a total of 1,087 vacancies across Group A and Group B services.
With agency inputs
