At least 30 candidates falsely declared themselves as differently-abled to get the benefit of a quota, at least 217 applicants violated age norms, and at least seven of the state’s 10 toppers were from the same examination centre.
This data, verified through a review of documents and admit cards by Newslaundry, is ostensibly just the tip of the iceberg as the list of glaring anomalies – in the Madhya Pradesh patwari recruitment exam – seems to grow longer by the day.
It all began with rumours among students about cheating, with subsequent social media posts pointing out that seven of the top 10 candidates in the merit list announced on June 30 were from the same examination centre, owned by BJP’s Bhind MLA Sanjeev Kumar Kushwaha. Amid mounting criticism from aspirants and the opposition, and protests by students in 25 districts, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government paused the recruitment process last week. CM Chouhan has announced that retired high court judge Rajendra Kumar Verma will probe the matter and submit a report on August 31.
Around 10 lakh candidates had appeared for the exam for 7,000 vacancies in March and April, held by the MP Employees Selection Board – rechristened after the infamous Vyapam scam involving the MP Professional Examination Board.
With these irregularities, the ghost of the Vyapam scam seems to have returned to haunt the Chouhan government in election year. The controversy has also spotlighted the state board’s decision to hire Eduquity, a Bengaluru-based technology firm which was blacklisted by the central Directorate General of Training in 2020, to carry out the exams. A teacher eligibility test, for which the contract was given to the same firm by Madhya Pradesh, was leaked on social media last year – the leak took place at an institute owned by a BJP minister.
Rampant violations of quota norms
Newslaundry has verified the documents of at least 30 candidates whose applications had manipulated physical standards to let them appear under the disabled category. For example, one Mukesh Gurjar, who cleared the patwari job test, had applied as physically fit for forest guard and jail guard recruitment exams in June.
One Akash Sharma, who was eighth in the merit list, had also declared himself as disabled even though he had applied as physically fit for forest guard and jail guard recruitment exams last month. Candidates Yogesh Sharma, Rameshwar Singh Kanshana, Gaurav Sharma, Ankit Satyanarayan Sharma, Asharam Meena, Bhaskar Sharma, Sunil Rawat, Pankaj Sharma, Shivjeet Singh Tomar were similar examples.
Of the 21 candidates who cleared the exam from Joura tehsil in Morena, 16 have the same surname and claim to be physically disabled. However, only one of these, Ramakant Tyagi, actually has a disability, show documents and visual evidence reviewed by Newslaundry.
Among others from the tehsil who wrongly availed benefits of the disabled quota are Kirtinandan Tyagi, Krishna Kant Tyagi, Jayant Tyagi, Yogendra Tyagi, Abhishek Tyagi, Ramakant Tyagi, Dheerendra Tyagi, Vijay Tyagi, Manoj Tyagi, Yogesh Kumar Tyagi, Ashish Tyagi, Chandrakant Tyagi, Aakash Tyagi, Praveen Tyagi, and Rahul Tyagi.
Ramakant, who has a locomotor disability, said, “I appeared for the patwari exams because my family is in a bad financial situation. Our family just has two acres of land and that’s our only source of living. I am not a fraud candidate but my name has been added to the list of fraudsters…it’s very depressing for me and my family.”
In Joura, biological brothers Manoj Tyagi and Praveen Tyagi have an age difference of six days as per the documents they have submitted.
The merit list in Sagar district has similar anomalies, with 11 candidates with the same surname and same examination centre being among the selected candidates. They took the exam at the Babulal Tarabai Institute of Research in Sagar.
Among these were Manoj Patel, Rekha Patel, Sushma Patel, Akhilesh Patel, Krushnakant Patel, Asha Patel, Jeetendra Singh Patel, Nitin Kumar Patel, Laxman Patel, Prabha Devi Patel and Krishna Kumar Patel.
Additionally, 217 applicants who were selected under the Samvida category violate the age rules – the norms specify only candidates born on January 19, 2000, or before can apply. The Samvida category is for contractual jobs which make up for 20 percent of the 7,000 vacancies.
“If the government does not conduct the exam again within two to three months, there is a possibility that many students will become overage. It should be conducted offline so that the exam will be over in a day or two,” said Harshit Bishnoi, a 30-year-old applicant from Harda.
Newslaundry reached out to Inder Singh Parmar, the minister of general administration which controls the MP Employees Selection Board. His staff said he was busy in a meeting. This report will be updated if he responds to our queries.
Aspirations crushed
While the government has suspended the selection procedure until the probe is complete, the incident has dashed the hopes of thousands of applicants who had been waiting to appear for this exam since it was last held in 2017.
Sachin Yadav, a core committee member of the National Educated Youth Union, a youth outfit which is leading the protest, claimed that Madhya Pradesh has not conducted regular recruitment exams since 2019 except the state public service commission tests. He said many applicants who had been preparing for such exams across the state’s towns have been forced to return to their villages over these years as they exceeded their age limit.
“On June 30, when results were announced, a rumour began doing the rounds that some scam had taken place at the NRI College in Gwalior. Initially, only candidates were able to see the results but then we demanded that the MP Staff Selection Board should release the list of selected candidates…they released the entire list and it was revealed that seven of the top 10 candidates in the merit list were from the NRI College in Gwalior. It all unravelled gradually.”
Chetna Dagar, a 27-year-old applicant from Bhopal, said she had been preparing for this exam since the last three years. “There are girls who have been preparing for the last three or four years and now will be overage. Their parents will marry them off and their aspirations to work will be eliminated…the government is not understanding that lakhs of aspirants are dependent on such exams for a better life. I myself will be overage soon.”
“The marks secured by the toppers are unbelievable. I write competitive exam books and teach as well for these exams. Even eight experts on eight different subjects together will not be able to score 183 out of 200,” said Praveen Sahu, who compiles exam guides for recruitment tests.
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