75% candidates miss Jharkhand government exam; many blame late emails, far-off centres

Of the 3,22,867 candidates who registered for the exam, only 86,444, or around 26%, appeared for it.

While the admit cards for the exam were uploaded on the JSSC’s website a few days before July 19, several candidates from Jharkhand and Bihar claimed that they either did not receive any email intimation regarding this or received the email only on or after the day of the examination. The JSSC has said all the information was available on its website ahead of the examination.

One of the candidates who did not write the exam was 26-year-old Lipika Mahapatra from Baharagora in Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district. She said she was allotted an examination centre in Hazaribagh, over 300 km away, and decided not to appear for the exam. She said she got to know just about four days before the examination that she would have to travel overnight and arrange accommodation at such short notice.

“There was no convenient travel option from my place. Even if I reached Hazaribagh, I would have had to arrange a place to stay and bear the travel expenses. It was simply not possible in three to four days,” Mahapatra said.

She also claimed that while she came to know about her examination centre after checking the website two days before the exam, the email regarding her admit card having been issued reached her only on July 20, a day after the examination. “I had prepared well and was depending on this recruitment. Missing the exam meant losing a major opportunity,” she said.

Exam centre 550 km away

Rupesh Kumar (22) from Sahibganj was allotted an examination centre in Gumla, around 550 km away. He claimed the email about his admit card reached him only at around 12 pm on July 19, after the examination had begun.

Kumar said he had filled the application form nearly two years ago. “Had I known about the centre earlier, I would have had to leave at least two days in advance because of the distance. By the time I came to know, it was too late… Jharkhand has a poor transportation system, and in such heavy rainfall, many trains were not on time,” he said.

He said missing the Field Worker examination meant losing an opportunity he had been waiting for since 2024.

Ganesh Kumar Sonkar (21) from Hazaribagh said he was allotted an examination centre in Deoghar, forcing him to skip the exam because he could not afford the travel at such short notice. Unlike some other candidates, Sonkar claimed he never received an email regarding his admit card.

He said he learnt about his allotted centre only after checking the JSSC website a few days before the examination. “I saw that my centre was in Deoghar. Travelling there at such short notice wasn’t possible. My family could not arrange the money immediately and with the rains, even reaching the railway station was difficult,” he said.

Several candidates from neighbouring Bihar also claimed they could not appear for the examination in Jharkhand, alleging that they received email intimation regarding their admit cards only after the examination had been conducted.

‘Systemic failure’

Mayank Patel, who runs an online coaching platform for government job aspirants, said he had been regularly uploading videos and updates related to the recruitment examination. “The exam was initially scheduled for July 5 before being postponed to July 19. Students also have a responsibility to keep checking the JSSC website. But it is not possible for all students to keep track of a two-year-old vacancy. My [Telegram] channel cannot reach all 3.2 lakh candidates, and many aspirants do not own smartphones or have access to online coaching channels,” he said.

Patel said the absence of nearly 75% of registered candidates in a recruitment examination conducted after a wait of almost two years reflected a systemic failure.

“This is a huge loss for the students. I have been receiving calls continuously from candidates who missed the exam. One of them was a pregnant woman from Hazaribagh who had prepared for nearly two years. Her husband works as a migrant labourer outside the state, and she was allotted a centre in another district. Even with three to four days’ notice, it was not possible for her to travel alone. Allotting examination centres in distant districts makes no sense and leaves many candidates helpless,” he said.

JSSC Secretary Sudhir Gupta told The Indian Express that all examination-related information, including the city intimation slip, admit cards and relevant links, had been uploaded on the commission’s website before the examination. “Everything was available on the website. Candidates could access the city intimation slip and download their admit cards from there,” he said.