'No Paper Leak, But Hacking Attempts': Why SSC GD exam centres face disruption, witness chaos?

The ongoing Staff Selection Commission General Duty, SSC GD constable examination has come under scrutiny after disruptions, overcrowding and cancellations were reported at multiple examination centres in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. While allegations of paper leaks and malpractice circulated on social media, the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) has denied any paper leak. Instead, they have blamed technical threats, hacking attempts and mismanagement for the chaos.

The recruitment examination is being conducted for nearly 46 lakh candidates across the country. The exam began on April 30 and will continue till May 31 in three shifts daily to recruit candidates for multiple central armed police forces.

SSC Chairman S. Gopalakrishnan recently admitted that there had been “mismanagement” at certain centres, particularly in Prayagraj, Kanpur and Gorakhpur. He told NDTV that the authorities were forced to take emergency measures after suspicious technical activity was detected during online examination process.

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Hacking attempts happen 'every day'

Talking about the disruptions, the Chairman clarified that there was “no paper leak” in the ongoing recruitment examination. He added that the commission faces daily attempts to compromise the online examination system.“The biggest threats for our exams are remote answering and technical hacks,” the chairman said, adding that suspicious activity had been detected on several computer terminals.

SSC's system is designed to automatically detect suspicious external access attempts. Therefore, when such activity is flagged, affected terminals shut down to prevent potential manipulation of the examination process.

Officials said this led to a sudden reduction in the number of “safe” terminals available at some centres. As a result, several candidates had to be rescheduled within a short period. "This is what led to overcrowding and confusion," officials added.

The SSC Chairman admitted that the handling of the situation amounted to “mismanagement or mishandling.” What made crowd management worse was that rescheduled candidates were compressed into two days instead of being spread across multiple dates.

Chaos at Prayagraj examination centre

One of the biggest disruptions was reported from Prayagraj’s Andawa area during the SSC GD examination on May 26.The incident occurred at Sunita Singh Sita Singh Mahavidyalaya, where the server reportedly failed during the first shift examination. The exam was scheduled in three shifts that day, but technical issues began shortly after the first shift started.

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Media reports suggest nearly 450 out of 600 allotted candidates were present at the centre when the server malfunctioned. Angry candidates allegedly damaged computers, chairs and other furniture inside the premises while raising slogans against the authorities. The candidates even blocked Prayagraj–Varanasi highway around 11:35 am. Police later confirmed that an investigation had been launched.

SSC regional director Ashish Srivastava later said the re-examination would be conducted again on May 29, 30 and 31 across six examination centres in the district in three shifts.

Bihar exam cancelled due to technical disruptions

The Staff Selection Commission (Central Region) also cancelled two shifts of the SSC GD Constable Examination 2026 at Aadarsh Pariksha Kendra in Muzaffarpur, Bihar due to technical reasons. Even though SSC maintained that the disruptions were restricted to only a few centres, the incidents triggered concern among candidates.

Amid the disruptions, several posts on social media alleged large-scale irregularities during the examination process. One such viral post by a Prayagraj-based teacher and YouTuber claimed candidates were openly using mobile phones and AI tools during the online examination. The post alleged poor invigilation and widespread malpractice at certain centres. However, these claims have not been officially verified by SSC or law enforcement agencies.

Meanwhile, SSC has indicated that examination agencies responsible for affected centres could face penalties under service-level agreement provisions for cancelled or rescheduled examinations.