Group-I exam registers 72.55 per cent attendance in Andhra Pradesh
VIJAYAWADA: Around 72.55 per cent of candidates have attended for the Preliminary Examination (Screening Test) for Group-I, conducted by the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) across the State on Sunday. The test was passed off smoothly amid tight security at 301 examination centres.
As against 1,48,881 candidates registered, 1,26,068 have downloaded the hall tickets for the exam. Around 90,777 appeared for the morning session, where as 91,463 attended for the afternoon session.
Earlier, Chief Secretary KS Jawahar Reddy announced the imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144 at the exam centres. The government appointed one IAS officer per district as in-charge, along with district-level senior officials serving as liaison officers for each examination centre to oversee the proceedings. Measures were implemented to ensure an uninterrupted power supply, drinking water supply, and first aid provision at all examination centres.
Monitoring of the examination process was facilitated through the APPSC command control room, which continuously supervised the conduct of the examinations at the state level via centre-wise CCTV cameras.
In Tirupati, as many as 6,037 candidates appeared for the exam. District Superintendent of Police (SP) Krishna Kanth Patel conducted inspections at the exam centres and reviewed arrangements.
APPSC Chairman Gautam Sawang personally supervised the Group-I prelims exam at the APPSC Command Control Centre in Vijayawada. Speaking to reporters, he emphasised the exams were conducted transparently and peacefully under the surveillance of CCTV centres.
Gautam Sawang said that the State government’s intention to appeal to the High Court bench against the verdict regarding the Group-I 2018 exam. He emphasised that there were no irregularities in the 2018 Group-I examination and that the manual evaluation was conducted transparently only once.
He assured jobholders that there was no cause for concern. Certain litigants have alleged attempts to obstruct the exam process, similar to incidents during the previous Group-II exam. Some individuals had unsuccessfully filed a house motion petition in the High Court to obstruct the ongoing Group-I exam.
Sawang also stated that every stage of the examination process conducted by APPSC is monitored and recorded via CCTV cameras to enhance transparency. Sawang highlighted efforts to improve transparency over the past three years and refrained from responding to political criticisms directed at him. He emphasised APPSC’s achievement of transparently completing the 2022 Group-I exam within 11 months under his chairmanship.
