CHENNAI: A few students who appeared for the UPSC Prelims scholarship exam on Saturday submitted a petition at the DGP office alleging malpractice and sought an inquiry into the results.
The exam was held on September 6, and the results were released last week. The candidate who topped the examination scored 197.33 out of 200 marks. Candidates pointed out that the highest scores in the previous years were 172 in 2023, 167.3 in 2024 and 139.94 in 2025.
The petitioners also alleged that the topper took the question paper to the restroom during the examination and returned after about 20 minutes. “A student who wrote the examination at the same centre had posted about the incident, following which we came to know about it,” one of them said.
Some candidates on social media alleged a similar incident occurred at the Coimbatore exam centre. Students have also raised questions about the 52.71-mark gap between the top two candidates’ results this year (second-highest score was 144.62).
The TN Skills UPSC scholarship examination is conducted by the Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation (TNSDC) to select candidates for financial assistance to prepare for the UPSC exam. Under the scheme, 1,000 candidates are eligible for a monthly scholarship of `7,500 for 10 months.
Meanwhile, official sources said the issue that the student had left the exam hall for nearly 20 minutes with the question paper was raised at the centre itself, and acknowledged that his score was unusually high. A decision on whether to withhold his result is expected to be taken this week, ahead of the certificate verification.