PATNA: Police resorted to mild lathi charge and used water cannons to disperse a large number of BPSC candidates when they were marching towards the Bihar Chief Minister's residence (CMR) in support of their demand for cancellation of the 70th preliminary test conducted by Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC).
Thousands of BPSC aspirants assembled at the Gandhi Maidan and staged a sit-in-protest near JP roundabout in the state capital in the morning itself in response to Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor's call for ‘Chhatra Sansad’, demanding a re-examination of the 70th BPSC preliminary exams.
BPSC candidates, adamant on their demand to meet Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to discuss the impasse, broke through two barricades set up by the police near JP roundabout. Both police personnel and BPSC aspirants also had a minor scuffle at Gandhi Maidan. Police used a mild baton charge to disperse protesters as they attempted to march towards Dak Bungalow via Fraser Road.
Leaving nothing to chance, the district administration deployed a heavy security force and also put barricades near Hotel Maurya to stop protesters from marching ahead.
A delegation of BPSC candidates will meet state chief secretary Amrit Lal Meena to sort out the deadlock.
Meanwhlile a case has been filed against poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor and others for allegedly instigating the protests.
According to Bihar police, Kishor and other members of his party provoked the candidates, urging them to take to the streets. BPSC aspirants have been staging a dharna in the Gardanibagh locality of the state capital for the last more than 10 days. BPSC had conducted the prelim examination on December 13.
Patna District Magistrate (DM) Chandrasekhar Singh said that the district administration would not allow students to congregate at Gandhi Maidan on Kishor's call as it is a restricted area.
Candidates claimed that the question paper was leaked, and there were delays in distributing the papers. Several candidates also reported receiving the question paper nearly an hour late, while others claimed that answer sheets were torn, fuelling suspicions of a potential leak. The BPSC cancelled the preliminary examination for candidates at the Bapu Pariksha Parisar centre after the exam conducted on December 13 was disrupted by "unruly" aspirants, resulting in a ruckus during which an on-duty official tragically died of a heart attack.
The Commission will conduct a re-test on January 4, 2025, at a different centre in the state capital for around 12,000 candidates.