Exam paper leaks: Mounting cases, aspirants affected, parties have made it an election issue

The Indian Express investigated 41 documented instances of leaks over the last five years in recruitment exams across 15 states — their governments cutting across party lines. The investigation revealed that the leaks derailed the schedules of as many as 1.4 crore applicants, who were vying for a little over 1.04 lakh posts.

Rajasthan saw the most number of leaks with seven. The exams were being held to fill over 6,000 posts and over 8 lakh aspirants had applied for them. In the run-up to the recently concluded Rajasthan elections, the BJP used the paper leak issue to target the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government. In one of his campaign rallies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress of “selling papers of all government exams”.

With the state seeing a spate of paper leaks and malpractices under the Congress government, the BJP, during its campaign, repeatedly promised to probe all paper leaks if voted to power. In January 2023, amid the BJP’s attacks, the Gehlot government carried out demolition of part of the house of one of the accused in one of cases.

Soon after it won the Rajasthan election, the BJP government set up a SIT to probe cases of paper leaks and malpractices, and last month, the Rajasthan Public Services Commission (RPCS) exam was conducted amid tight security.

The issue also figured in the political discourse of poll-bound Telangana, which saw five instances of paper leaks, in the run-up to the Assembly elections. In March last year, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government’s cancellation of the Telangana State Public Services Commission (TSPSC) exam over an alleged leak took a political turn after a 22-year-old woman aspirant allegedly died by suicide over the cancellation.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi slammed the K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) government and accused it of ignoring the voice of the youth. Congress leader A Revanth Reddy was placed under house arrest to prevent him from joining the protesting aspirants.

Following the change of government, CM Revanth Reddy saw to the resignation of TSPSC chairman Janardhan Reddy.

In Bihar too, the leaks have led to political heat. In May 2022, over six lakh aspirants were left in the lurch after the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) cancelled its preliminary examination after allegations of a leak. The exam was being held to fill 802 vacancies. CM Nitish Kumar promised a thorough enquiry in the matter.

Tejashwi Yadav, who was still to join hands with Nitish at the time, said, “The BPSC name should be changed to ‘Bihar Lok Paper Leak Ayog’ for playing with the lives of crores of youth and candidates.”

In June 2023, a massive row erupted after protesting Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) aspirants were lathicharged by the Bihar Police in Patna, demanding changes in domicile rules. A total of 59 protesters, including then state BJP chief and current Bihar deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary, were booked.

Uttar Pradesh is another state where the issue gained political proportions. In November 2021, the Uttar Pradesh Teachers Eligibility Test (UPTET) was cancelled following reports of a leak. Over 20 lakh aspirants were scheduled to take the test.

CM Yogi Adityanath promised that the culprits would be brought to book and the stringent National Security Act invoked. BJP MP Varun Gandhi slammed his party’s government over the leak, while the Samajwadi Party alleged that those being patronised by the government were involved in the leak and claimed papers of 18 competitive exams had leaked since Adityanath took over the reins of the state in 2017.

Some other states where exam paper leaks have taken a political colour include Maharashtra, where the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) said in the Legislative Council that unemployment and paper leaks were “the only guarantees that the Modi government can provide”.

In Andhra Pradesh, the arrest of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MLA P Narayana in connection with a Class 10 paper leak saw a political slugfest, with the N Chandrababu Naidu-led party alleging political witch-hunt on the part of the ruling YSRCP government.

In Odisha, the BJP and Congress took on the Naveen Patnaik government after the leak of Odisha Staff Selection Commission (OSSC) exam paper for the post of junior engineers. “Though the BJD government has been making tall claims, the question paper leak showed that there is no transparency in the examination process. Question papers cannot be leaked without the involvement of someone in the OSSC,” Odisha Congress chief Sarat Pattanayak said.