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Mumbai: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) released the results for the recruitment of Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner (APFC) at the Employee's Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) under the Ministry of Labour and Employment on July 16 and recommended 159 candidates to the service.
Out of the 159 recommended candidates, it is estimated that around 50 candidates are from the two cities - Lucknow and Prayagraj. According to the aspirants, around 32% of selected candidates took the exam in the same centre and had consecutive roll numbers. Further, 81 candidates were selected from only 3 centres, that is, Prayagraj, Lucknow and Delhi.
The UPSC APFC exam was surrounded by allegations of malpractices right from the day of the exam, that is, July 2, 2023. There was a widespread outcry from the candidates in 2023 who claimed that the paper was leaked before the scheduled time of the exam.
UPSC took note of the social media outrage and released an official statement denying allegations of the leak. UPSC stated that it took note of the viral social media posts and undertook a thorough review of the test methods and checks in all centres across the country.
The Commission stated that after a comprehensive inquiry, nothing worthy of suspicion was discovered.
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However, the allegations have resurfaced once again after the result of the exam was announced on July 15th.
“This is not a coincidence as a complaint of paper leak was made to UPSC just after the exam was conducted on July 2,” said Shubh, an aspirant who appeared for the exam in the Gurgaon centre.
“What special thing has happened in these three centres, that too for this particular exam only that bucked the trend for all the exams of UPSC? I scored 200+ marks out of 300 in the exam, and gave the interview as well but many like me were not selected for the exam. In the interview room, I could see many candidates who behaved brashly, were not appropriately dressed and were not at all professional. I believe that the rigging took place during the written exam session and a comprehensive search of the OMR sheets of the selected candidates should be done,” he added.
Another candidate, Sunita Dedha said that the statistics reveal the fact that there had been rampant cheating at the Prayagraj as well as Lucknow centres. “The question paper was leaked an hour before the exam."
Candidates share screenshot of the question paper which was leaked on 2nd July | FPJ
"Candidates complained to UPSC on July 2 as well about the leak but nothing happened. It may have been premature at that time to conclude anything based on screenshots but now after the results are announced, everything has become clear,” Dedha said.
Another candidate who chose to remain anonymous said that these leaks and rampant malpractices in exams are a clear testimony that our whole system is completely rigged and biased. “One of my friends from the Prayagraj centre claimed that he witnessed the cheating first-hand. He even wrote about it to the UPSC but to no avail. There was no wrongdoing at my centre at Anantpur but after the results, I am not so sure about other centres of UP. The leak was also reported from there itself and now the results of these centres speak volumes."
An email from a candidate writing to UPSC about the alleged cheating is also going viral on social media and has been obtained by FPJ. In the email, the candidate mentions that in his centre at Prayagraj, the student sitting diagonally had answers written on his palm.
Candidate wrote to UPSC about the alleged cheating |
UPSC's response to the email |
The sender of the mail further said that the candidate claimed to have gotten the question paper on WhatsApp before the exam.
FPJ reached out to the UPSC authorities but no response was received till the time of publishing of this copy.
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