BPSC aspirants clashed with police in Patna after breaching barricades during a Raj Bhavan march, demanding changes to TRE-4 and cancellation of the 70th exam
New Delhi: Police and protesting BPSC aspirants clashed in Patna on Tuesday after demonstrators breached barricades during a march towards Raj Bhavan. The protesters are demanding the cancellation of the 70th Combined Competitive Examination conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC).
The march was organised by the Chhatra-Yuva Sangharsh Morcha. The group had called on students and job aspirants to gather and march towards the Raj Bhavan.
The procession began at Gandhi Maidan and continued despite heavy police deployment at Dak Bungalow Chowk, JP Golambar and other locations. When police tried to stop the marchers at JP Golambar, the crowd broke through the barricades and clashed with the police.
Protesters press for key exam changes
The agitation has continued at Gardanibagh for several days. Some students have been on hunger strike for more than a week.
The protesters have submitted a 15-point charter of demands. Their two main demands concern the upcoming Teacher Recruitment Examination-4 (TRE-4). They want the Commission to remove negative marking and conduct the examination in a single stage instead of the proposed two-stage format.
They have also demanded the cancellation of the 70th BPSC examination, the announcement of a date for the BSSC Intermediate-level examination and an independent inquiry into the Sub-Inspector recruitment process.
DSP Kamakhya Narayan Singh told reporters that the police would not allow the marchers to proceed further. He said discussions with senior officials had been positive and expressed the hope that many protesters would accept the outcome of the talks.
Negotiations involving the Education Secretary and the Patna District Magistrate on Monday resulted in an agreement on several secondary demands, though the questions of negative marking and the examination format remained unresolved.
Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav wrote to Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and urged him to hold direct talks with the protesters.
In his letter, Yadav also raised concerns over alleged bias against Hindi-medium candidates in the BPSC Civil Services mains and interview stages. He called for greater transparency in State-level competitive examinations and demanded a high-level probe into past irregularities.
Education Minister Mithilesh Tiwari said the government had already addressed almost all the issues raised by the students. He rejected the suggestion that the protest alone had compelled the administration to act.
Why the BPSC dispute persists
The present agitation has its origins in the 70th Combined Competitive Examination held on December 13, 2024, across 912 centres. At the Bapu Sabhagar centre in Patna, candidates alleged that the question paper had been leaked.
Some candidates snatched papers from invigilators and threw them over the boundary wall. Around 300 to 400 aspirants also boycotted the examination. The then BPSC Chairman called the incident a conspiracy and said the remaining centres had functioned normally. A widely circulated video also showed the Patna District Magistrate slapping a candidate outside the centre.
The Commission later ordered a re-examination for more than 12,000 candidates who had appeared at the affected centre. When the results were declared in January, more than 1,400 candidates had received negative scores. The negative-marking system deducts marks for incorrect answers.
BPSC officials have defended the two-stage format proposed for TRE-4. They noted that the UPSC and several State commissions follow similar structures. Commission Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh also cited the recommendations of the Radhakrishnan Committee, which was formed after the NEET-UG controversy. He said a multi-stage examination can help prevent paper leaks. He also maintained that negative marking applies equally to all candidates.
These explanations have not satisfied the students protesting at Gardanibagh. As of Tuesday evening, the TRE-4 advertisement had not been issued. The examination format also remained unsettled. The key demands over negative marking and a single-stage examination were still unresolved.
