Akhilesh Yadav And Mayawati Back Aspirants' Demand For 'Single Day, Single Shift' Exam As Protest Against UPPSC Enters Day Two

As protests of the aspirants against the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) continued for the second day on Tuesday (12 November), opposition leaders extended support to the students.

Samajwadi Party (SP) national president accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trapping the youth in the struggle for employment and opposed the conduct of exams in different shifts.

Aspirants in Prayagraj have been protesting outside the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) office demanding single shift exams for Review Officer (RO)-Assistant Review Officer (ARO) and Provincial Civil Service (PCS).

RO-ARO preliminary exams are scheduled to take place over three shifts on 22 and 23 December, while the UPPCS PCS preliminary exams are scheduled for two shifts on 7 and 8 December.

The students demand that the exams should be conducted on a single day in a single shift, instead of normalising different shifts as per certain formulas, which allegedly makes the process non-transparent.

Taking jibe over BJP's 'One Nation, One Election' proposal, Yadav said, "Elections can be held simultaneously in the entire country but exams cannot be held simultaneously in one state. The hypocrisy of the BJP has been exposed."

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati criticised the police action against the protesting aspirants and questioned the lack of basic amenities that exams cannot be conducted in a single shift.

"Does UP lack such basic facilities to conduct exams at one time that special exams like PCS etc. have to be conducted in two days. Stopping paper leaks and reliability of exams are important issues," she said.

Meanwhile, the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and police personnel are present at the spot to avoid any untoward incident during the protests. The protests began yesterday after exam dates were announced last week.