Amid the heated agitation by students over the alleged paper leak in the BPSC examination, Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) Controller Rajesh Kumar Singh on Saturday claimed non-serious candidates held the protest.
While speaking on the protest, he said, "The BPSC protests were started by the non-serious candidates. Since the examination was cancelled, we had to take their re-exam anyway and we had been trying to get it done immediately.."
Talking about the re-examination conducted today, the BPSC controller said that a total of 5,840 aspirants had appeared for the exam. He said, "5,840 aspirants have appeared for the exams already... We hope this number reaches 6200-6300. By 10:30 am today, 8,111 aspirants downloaded the admit card out of 12,012 registrations.."
He also announced a tentative result date saying that it would likely be released between January 25 to 30 and the mains would be conducted by April. "We are trying to release the results of the BPSC prelims between 25 and 30 January and conduct the mains by April. The serious candidates can start preparing by then," he added.
Notably, the protest started after the examination was first held on December 13 with some centres reporting delayed question paper distribution. The commission had announced re-examination at a few centres but the alleged paper leak stirred protests and the aspirants demanded cancellation of the entire examination. The protest gained political traction after Jan Suraj Party chief Prashant Kishor called students to gather at Gandhi Maidan. The starting round of negotiations failed and the protestors were dealt with water cannons and lathi charges. Subsequently, calls of bandh and rail roko were also made in Bihar. The BPSC protest have become a centre of politics in Bihar recently.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, the re-examination was held in Patna. Gaurav Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) said that jawans were deployed in four centres across the city. "There are four centres in Patna. Our jawans are deployed at all these centres. We will ensure that examinations are conducted smoothly. Traffic routes have also been taken care of. Students have arrived at the centre and the examinations are underway peacefully..."
District Magistrate (DM) Chandrashekhar Singh spoke on the protests near the Gandhi statue in Gandhi Maidan and said that it was a restricted area. "Our top priority was to conduct today's exam... All citizens have the responsibility to maintain law and order..." he further added.
(With inputs from ANI)
