UPSC CSE Prelims 2026 in 2 Days: Over 23,000 opt for new exam centres; 8.19 lakh set to appear

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) said that more than 23,000 UPSC CSE 2026 aspirants have chosen three newly introduced exam centres as part of efforts to decongest exam venues. Three new centres – Bhubaneshwar, Kanpur, and Meerut – have been increased from 80 to 83, UPSC said.

UPSC civil services exam 2026 is conducted once a year in three stages, including preliminary, mains, and interview for recruitment to services including Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and Indian Police Service (IPS).

The commission will conduct the UPSC civil services preliminary exam on Sunday, May 24, for more than 8.19 lakh applications. Candidates can download the UPSC CSE prelims 2026 admit card using their login credentials from the candidate portal on the official website.

According to the PTI reports, the UPSC chairman Ajay Kumar said the initiative aims to make the examination process more candidate-friendly, accessible, and efficient.

"The addition of three new centres is aimed at easing congestion and providing greater convenience to aspirants," Kumar said.

Furthermore, chairman also added that the commission has ensured that persons with benchmark disabilities (PwBD) candidates have been allotted their preferred examination centres, even beyond existing capacity, by creating additional seats where required.

Nearly 805 PwBD applicants got their centre of choice in Delhi.

Also read UPSC exam calendar 2027 out; Engineering Services prelims on January 31

UPSC CSE 2026: New exam centres

Notably, to further strengthen exam infrastructure, UPSC introduced a dropdown option in the CSE prelims application form 2026, allowing candidates to indicate their preferred nearby cities.

The table below shows the newly added and old exam centres.

As per the UPSC official statement, the data collected through the exercise will help identify feasible locations for additional examination centres in the future.

UPSC CSE Answer Key 2026

In a major update, the UPSC has announced to issue the UPSC CSE Prelims 2026 provisional answer key shortly after the exam on the official website, upsconline.nic.in/login. Candidates will be able to challenge the UPSC CSE provisional answer key 2026 by May 31 till 6 pm, through the “Online Question Paper Representation Portal (QPRep)” available on the website.