The Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) has tightened security and identity checks for Sunday’s gazette probationers preliminary examination, with two invigilators assigned to every examination hall and a government college employee required to be present in each hall. The measures will apply to an exam for 319 posts, for which 1,47,067 candidates have applied.
Chief minister D K Shivakumar reviewed preparations through a video conference with deputy commissioners and superintendents of police on Thursday. He directed officials to ensure a transparent examination with no scope for malpractice and asked them to submit preparedness reports after training examination personnel on the lines of election officials.
The additional invigilator is intended to strengthen identity checks, frisking and surveillance inside examination halls. Police have been instructed to arrange security at a level comparable with police recruitment examinations. Officials must prevent unauthorised persons from entering examination centres, while authorised staff will also be checked and allowed to carry only permitted items.
Candidates will not be allowed to enter centres with mobile phones. Officials have been asked to assess the sensitivity of each centre and deploy security personnel accordingly. If required, additional security equipment will be hired or police personnel brought in from other locations. All examination halls will have CCTV cameras and mobile jammers, according to the KPSC examination controller H Prasanna.
The commission has also revised the OMR answer-sheet system. Each question will have five options, and candidates who do not know an answer must mark the fifth option because no question can be left unanswered. Every OMR sheet will have three copies: one for the candidate, one for KPSC evaluation and one for storage in the strongroom of the deputy commissioner or KPSC.
The new process is designed to create a traceable record across the examination, evaluation and custody stages. Scanned copies of all OMR sheets will be uploaded on the KPSC website on the day of the examination, allowing candidates to access copies of the records generated during the test.
The chief minister also directed the e-governance department to introduce Aadhaar-based identity verification at examination centres in the future and instructed officials to take stringent action against impersonation. Private aided institutions found facilitating malpractice at their centres could lose their licences. Police have additionally been asked to monitor social media for rumours connected with the examination.
The measures place responsibility across the district administration, police, examination officials and participating institutions. The immediate operational focus before Sunday’s test is centre-level preparedness, staff training, security deployment, restrictions on prohibited items and implementation of the revised OMR process.
