Police use water cannon, lathi charge on BPSC protesters in Patna

Hundreds of candidates who had appeared for the BPSC prelims, conducted on December 13 at 912 centres across Bihar, have been protesting in Patna since December 18, calling for the cancellation of the exam, alleging that CCTV cameras and jammers had not been functional at several examination centres and that question papers had been distributed late at some locations. The BPSC has so far agreed to reschedule the exam only for those who took it at one centre in Patna, where an exam official died of heart attack amid ruckus.

“How can BPSC reschedule the examination for just one centre? There should be a level playing amid complaints of delayed distribution of question papers, non-functional CCTV cameras and jammers at several other centres. Students are justified in seeking fresh prelims for all 912 examination centres,” Kishor said.

Around 3.8 lakh students had written BPSC prelims on December 13.

On Sunday, after the protesters were blocked from meeting the Chief Minister, the Patna administration advised them that a delegation of five aspirants could meet Chief Secretary Amrit Lal Meena.

With the protesters divided over whether to accept the offer, Prashant Kishor left the protest site after some time.

Hundreds of aspirants continued to shout slogans against the BPSC, and when some of them tried to break through barricades, police used water cannons and lathi charge to disperse the protesters.

Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav has backed the protesting aspirants and called on the BPSC to conduct fresh prelims.

Earlier, leading Patna educators Khan Sir and Guru Rahman, and Independent Purnia MP Pappu Yadav, have also expressed their support to the protesters and have taken part in the protest with them.

A BPSC official has said, however, that there had been clear evidence of delayed distribution of question papers at just one centre in Patna, where re-examination has been ordered. “We cannot go by students’ allegations and cancel the examination held at all centres,” the official said.