MPSC Aspirants Stage Protest In Pune Over Exam Results; Demand Immediate Action On Exam Irregularities And Postponement
Pune, 12th April 2025: Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) aspirants once again took to the streets on Friday (11th April), staging a sit-in protest at Shastri Road in Pune. The sudden demonstration disrupted local traffic and prompted swift intervention by city police. The protestors raised strong objections over alleged irregularities in the results and the lack of transparency in the recruitment process.
Students voiced outrage over being excluded from the merit list despite scoring higher than the official cut-off. In response, the protestors demanded the postponement of the next examination and an increase in vacancies for the Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) posts.
Initially, the state government had approved 441 vacancies for the PSI posts under Maharashtra Group ‘B’ services. However, due to upcoming elections, the exam was delayed and the requisition was returned to the government. In October 2024, the commission reissued a notification, but this time for only 216 positions, sparking frustration among aspirants. Students questioned the sudden reduction of 225 posts and urged the government to restore the original vacancy count.
“We are not affiliated with any political party. We are simply students focused on our studies, but due to the commission’s mismanagement, we are forced to protest in the streets. It’s unfortunate,” said one of the protestors. Others emphasized that Maharashtra, a guiding state in education and governance, should not allow repeated protests from students. They called for a more accountable and efficient MPSC and demanded appointments of capable officers within the commission.
As the protest continued, police declared the gathering unlawful and began detaining students. The demonstrators claimed that they had been submitting requests for police permission to conduct a protest for the past two months but were consistently denied. “We had no choice but to take a constitutional route after the government ignored our pleas,” said a protestor. The protest began at 8:45 pm in front of Ahilyadevi Study Center and was broken up by police shortly after 9 pm. Students were taken to Faraskhana Police Station, and minor verbal clashes reportedly occurred between them and the police.
The exam was held on 1st December 2024, and results were released on 12th March 2025. The revised results included 318 candidates under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category, but aspirants alleged errors persisted even in the updated list. Several candidates who scored above the cut-off were still excluded from the merit list, prompting legal action in the Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT).
Due to these alleged lapses by the commission, students claim their valuable preparation time was lost. They demanded the upcoming preliminary exam be postponed to ensure equal opportunity under Article 16 of the Constitution.
