Patna:

Amid the stalemate over demand for cancellation of a recent competitive exam in Bihar, a close aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday asserted that it has received no evidence, so far, of question paper leak.

The averment came from Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, one of the senior-most ministers in the state cabinet, a day after the chief secretary spoke to a delegation of protesters, in a gesture aimed at breaking the deadlock.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Chaudhary said, “The government could not have acted with greater clarity. The top official gave a patient hearing to the aggrieved party. But, to my information, no evidence of question paper leak has been furnished so far.” “So, as of now, we hold that there has been no paper leak. This is also the stand of the public service commission. One examination centre had witnessed some disturbances and a re-examination has been ordered for the candidates who were affected,” the minister said.

“But obviously, there was a conspiracy. Rumours of question paper leak were spread, but nobody knew where was it leaked, and to whom. Those behind this played with the future of young students. They must be unmasked,” he said.

The minister’s statement was in line with the stand taken by the BPSC over the matter.

The Combined Competitive Exams were held on December 13 when hundreds, all of them at the Bapu Pariksha Parisar in the state capital, boycotted the test alleging that the question paper had been leaked.

The commission has since ordered a re-examination for over 10,000 candidates who have been asked to appear for fresh test at different centres in the city on January 4.

However, the commission has also held the view that the exam was held properly at the remaining 911 centres across Bihar with no complaints from over five lakh candidates.

But, a section of aspirants have launched an agitation, holding that re-examination must be ordered for all the centres to ensure “level playing field”.

The stir, which comes less than a year ahead of assembly polls, has received support from all political players opposed to the state’s ruling NDA, including Jan Suraaj Party founded by Prashant Kishor, who has been labelled as “the government’s B team” by the main opposition party RJD.

Kishor, who had on Sunday led a demonstration that ended in crackdown by police, has urged the protesters to hold their horses till January 1 and resume their agitation if the government fails to come up with a positive response.

Meanwhile, leaders of the CPI(ML) Liberation attempted a ‘Raj Bhavan march’, only to be thwarted by police well ahead of the high-security area where the governor resides.

The Left party was joined in the procession by allies, Congress, CPI and CPI(M).

In a statement, the CPI(ML)-L alleged police “misbehaved” with those taking part in the procession, including Sudama Prasad, the sitting MP from Arrah, and MLC Shashi Yadav.

Later, the party added, “Upon a proposal received from the Raj Bhavan, a memorandum was submitted to the governor’s principal secretary Robert L Chongthu by a five-member delegation.” Demands raised in the memorandum included inquiry into the alleged paper leak and action against officials who may have been responsible for the same.

The delegation included legislative party leaders Mehboob Alam (CPI-ML), Shakil Ahmed Khan (Congress), Ram Ratan Singh (CPI) and Ajay Kumar (CPI-M).

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The controversy surrounding the 70th Combined Preliminary Exam of the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) is assuming critical proportions with every passing day. Students have levelled allegations of irregularities in the examination, the poor quality of the question paper, and the similarities between the questions in the exam and model papers from coaching institutes. They are, therefore, demanding a complete cancellation of the exam and a re-conduct of the examination.

Opposition parties such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, CPI (M-L), and Jan Suraaj are supporting the students’ demands, slamming the government for jeopardising the future of students. BPSC has rejected these allegations, calling them “irrational” and has appealed to students to focus on preparing for the main exam.

Key developments so far

The controversy surrounding BPSC’s 70th Combined Preliminary Exam, which began on December 6, 2024, continues to be a topic of discussion. The advertisement for this exam was released in September 2024, and 483,000 candidates applied, out of which 325,000 appeared for the exam.

The exam was conducted for 2,031 positions, including 200 SDMs, 136 DSPs, and other gazetted officer posts, making it one of the largest vacancies in recent years.

The preliminary exam was held on December 13, 2024, between 12 PM and 2 PM, with candidates answering 150 questions on general knowledge.

Timeline of events:

December 6: Students raised concerns about normalisation, accusing BPSC of introducing the practice. BPSC dismissed these allegations, calling them “rumours,” stating there were no plans for normalisation.

December 13: A disturbance occurred at the Bapu Pariksha Parisar (Bapu Examination Complex) in Patna, where the question papers were delayed. As a result, BPSC decided to re-conduct the exam for 12,000 candidates from this centre on January 4, 2025.

December 18: Protests intensified at the Gardanibagh protest site, with students demanding the complete cancellation of the exam. The protest still continues.

Irregularities alleged at other centres:

Although BPSC has acknowledged the delay in question paper distribution at the Bapu Examination Complex in Patna, students are alleging irregularities at other exam centres as well:

The Bapu exam centre in Patna, built by the Bihar government in 2023, has also come under scrutiny. While the Bihar government claims it is the largest exam centre in the country, capable of hosting 20,000 candidates at once, coordination between the BPSC, Patna District Administration, and the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) was reportedly poor, contributing to the delay in the exam.

In a press release, BPSC clarified that the Bapu Examination Complex is under the administrative control of the BSEB, with no direct involvement from the BPSC.

Allegations regarding the question paper:

Another significant concern raised by students is the content of the question paper. Many students have noted that the questions appeared to be at the level of a police recruitment exam and closely matched model papers provided by coaching institutes.

In response, BPSC Secretary Satyaprakash Sharma explained that the exam paper is set by an independent panel of experts, and if the paper was simple, the cutoff would be higher, which should not be a cause for concern.

He acknowledged that there were a few similarities with coaching institute papers but downplayed their significance, stating that these questions would not help a candidate pass the exam.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)