Selection that cannot be checked cannot be trusted; AAP Government cannot hide behind the Commission, he says
Chandigarh, 12 November 2026 :(Bindu Singh) Congress Working Committee member and former Punjab Cabinet Minister Vijay Inder Singla today demanded that the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) halt the interviews for the Punjab Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination 2025, tentatively due to begin in the first week of December. With document scrutiny of shortlisted candidates already under way, he called for a time-bound inquiry by a retired High Court judge, monitored by the High Court, before a single appointment is made on the basis of the Mains result declared on 4 November.
“More than 80,000 young Punjabis applied for this examination. Nearly 4,000 of them wrote the Mains for 331 posts, after waiting almost two years. What they received was an eight-page list of roll numbers, with no names, no categories and no marks. A selection that cannot be checked cannot be trusted,” Singla said.
Singla said the case for an inquiry rest on PPSC’s own record, not on rumour:
1. PPSC itself flagged the problem. In its public notice of 14 October 2026, the Commission cited “maintaining uniformity in evaluation” as one of the reasons this very examination was taking so long.
2. 242 places stand unexplained. The rules allow up to three times the vacancies in each category to be called for interview, a ceiling of 993 for 331 posts. Only 751 were called. The Commission says it applied the rule separately across 21 categories, yet has not published a single category-wise figure or cut-off.
3. Two unbroken runs of six. The shortlist contains two runs of six consecutive roll numbers, 11004 to 11009 and 12159 to 12164. On a standard statistical estimate, if every answer script were marked independently, two such runs would turn up in roughly one examination in a hundred.
4. Eligibility checked last. Age and other eligibility conditions are being scrutinised only now, after the Mains. PPSC’s own prelims gazette shows an under-age applicant was admitted to the preliminary examination and marked.
5. No fair standard for persons with disabilities. Fourteen of the advertised posts are reserved for persons with disabilities, but the rules give them no relaxed qualifying standard, while one is rightly provided for SC and ST candidates.
“The AAP Government requisitioned these posts, and the Commission’s members are appointed on its advice. It cannot hide behind the Commission’s autonomy when the future of Punjab’s youth is at stake. This is the same Government whose recruitment of 1,158 college teachers and librarians the Supreme Court struck down in July 2025 as arbitrary. Punjab’s youth cannot be asked to trust it blindly a second time,” Singla said.
The Congress leader set out six demands:
1. Suspend the interviews until the inquiry is complete.
2. Constitute a time-bound inquiry by a retired High Court judge, monitored by the High Court, with full access to answer scripts, evaluator records, attendance sheets and roll-number allotment.
3. Publish category-wise data for all 21 categories: vacancies, candidates who cleared the qualifying bar, and cut-off marks.
4. Disclose the designations, qualifications and number of evaluators for each paper, and the method used to moderate their marking.
5. Publish room-wise Mains attendance against the 751 shortlisted roll numbers, and explain the two runs of six.
6. Give every candidate access to their own answer scripts and marks.
“Our demand is not to take away anyone’s hard-earned success. Deserving candidates have nothing to fear from transparency. Only those who tampered with the process, if anyone did, should fear an inquiry. And if the inquiry finds systemic wrongdoing, the Mains must be held again at no cost to the aspirants,” Singla said.
The Congress stands fully with the aspirants and supports the memorandum they have submitted to the Chairman of the Commission.
