UPPSC Exam Date Row: SP backs protesting aspirants, Akhilesh says demand 'legitimate'

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday lent support to aspirants demanding that the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission conduct the RO-ARO and the PCS preliminary examinations on the same date, saying his party stood shoulder to shoulder with their "legitimate demand". Aspirants of various competitive examinations conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) have warned of a protest in front of its Prayagraj office on Monday in this connection. The UPPSC announced on November 5 that the Review Officer and Assistant Review Officer (RO-ARO) preliminary examination would be held in three shifts on December 22 and 23.

The Provincial Civil Service (PCS) preliminary examination will be held in two shifts on December 7 and 8. In a statement issued by the Samajwadi Party headquarters, Yadav said the BJP did not recruit candidates but indulged in "chhalav (cheating)". "When one (act of) cheating is caught, the BJP introduces another (form of) cheating."

Yadav claimed the aspirants had understood the BJP's "conspiracy" to conduct the examinations in two shifts. "That is why they are agitating against it and the Samajwadis stand shoulder to shoulder with their legitimate demands," the Samajwadi Party chief said. Yadav also alleged that this was a trick by the BJP to ensure that youngsters did not get government jobs and remained unemployed, which would eventually force them to work as cheap labourers.

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"This will keep filling the coffers of the BJP's profiteers and they will keep donating to the BJP, which will keep misusing it to win elections," the Kannauj MP said. He claimed that the unemployed youth had understood this vicious electoral cycle and the BJP's intention. "That is why they are now taking a pledge to defeat the BJP in the elections." Explaining the logic behind their calls for a protest, UPPSC aspirant Ramakant Yadav said that conducting the examinations on multiple days was against the rules. The students are demanding that the examinations be conducted in a single day, like before. Another student said that if the commission did not change its decision, they would be forced to start a protest from Monday.