SSC may hold retest for affected selection post phase 13 candidates; no exam cancellation: Chairman

The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) will not cancel the Selection Post Phase 13 exam, but may hold a retest for candidates who were unable to appear or complete the test due to technical or administrative issues. Chairman S Gopalakrishnan, in a statement to ANI, said the Commission is reviewing data from all test centres and will offer a fresh attempt to any candidate found to have been denied a fair chance.

The Commission has also written to Eduquity Career Technologies, the exam-conducting agency, seeking a response to the operational lapses reported during the test window held from July 24 to August 1. The exam was conducted in 194 centres across 142 cities for approximately five lakh candidates.

“We are analysing the data. If we find even one candidate who has been wronged, we will conduct the exam again for them,” the SSC Chairman told ANI, acknowledging technical issues such as software crashes, biometric verification failures, and mismatches in centre allotments.

The disruptions led to protests in Delhi last week, with thousands of aspirants gathering to demand corrective action. According to ANI, the Chairman admitted to “teething problems” with the new vendor and said the SSC will take corrective steps in the coming months.

Calls to drop Eduquity, but SSC cites logistical hurdles

To address immediate grievances, a re-exam was conducted on August 2 in three shifts. As per the Commission’s data, 16,600 candidates were scheduled for the re-test, but only 8,048 appeared — a turnout of roughly 60 per cent. Two centres — one in Delhi (Pawan Ganga) and another in Uttar Pradesh (Educasa) — saw complete cancellations , impacting around 2,500 candidates.

The Commission has indicated it may organise another retest for students affected at these centres. While some aspirants and educators have called for the removal of Eduquity as a vendor, the SSC Chairman told ANI that terminating the agency at this point would disrupt the exam calendar further.

"Based on one test, I cannot remove them. How will I conduct examinations in the coming weeks? I will have to float a new tender, and it will take until December for a company to be finalised. Till then, what will I do?" he asked.

He further added that there has been an improvement in the vendor’s performance since the initial exam days and that penalties would be imposed for lapses such as system hangs and faulty equipment.

Also read SSC to share non-selected candidates’ scores, personal details for PSU, government recruitment

AI used only for preventing repetition, says SSC

On the concerns raised over Artificial Intelligence being used for question selection, the Commission clarified that only a basic AI mechanism was deployed to avoid question repetition, with each item tagged using metadata. However, candidates alleged that questions were repeated despite this system.

The Commission reiterated that it maintains the integrity of the examination process through logs, CCTV surveillance, and electronic data analysis, and that its systems are monitored in collaboration with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC).

Looking ahead, the SSC said it is confident that future exams will be conducted without disruptions. “The upcoming examinations from August 6 to 8 will be much smoother. Around 3.5 lakh candidates are scheduled to appear,” the Chairman told ANI.