UPPSC exam row: Number of protesters dwindles a day after govt’s decision

Only a handful remain at the protest site, demanding a single-day exam for RO/ARO recruitment. The protesters demanded that the Review Officer (RO) and Assistant Review Officer (ARO) preliminary exams be conducted on a single day. In response, the government postponed the exams and formed a committee to “ensure transparency and fairness in the process.”

On Friday, the commission announced that the PCS preliminary examination has been rescheduled to December 22. The revised exam will be conducted in two shifts: From 9:30 am to 11:30 am and from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm, the government said in a statement. The change aims at addressing travel and scheduling challenges, allowing candidates to complete the exam in a single day, it added.

“The agitation split into two groups after the state government announced that the PCS preliminary exam would be held in a single day. Students protesting for the PCS preliminary examination have left the site. Now, students demanding clarity on whether the RO/ARO examination will also be conducted in a single day are left at the spot,” said Deepak Gupta, one of the protesters. He claimed that around 60 aspirants are present outside the commission office.

A police team has been deployed outside the office in Prayagraj. Earlier the UPPSC had scheduled the RO and ARO preliminary exams for December 22 and 23 in three shifts, while the PCS preliminary exams were planned for December 7 and 8 in two shifts.

As the news spread, aspirants began raising concerns and reached Prayagraj to protest on Monday. Multiple attempts by the district administration to persuade them to end the demonstration were unsuccessful. Following the intervention of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the government on Thursday announced that the PCS preliminary exam would be held in a single day.