Imphal/New Delhi:
The Staff Selection Commission's (SSC) decision to withdraw the results of an examination for Manipur to recruit constables and other personnel has sparked a major controversy.
The SSC, which recruits staff for ministries and departments, said in a message on its website on Monday that it has withdrawn the exam results after finding that the results did not include data on one stage of the exam.
The SSC said in the notification that the physical and medical tests for candidates in Manipur were being conducted in phases due to law and order situation in the state. Tensions are still simmering 10 months after ethnic clashes erupted in Manipur.
“…While processing the result dated March 15, 2024, the data related to one phase was accidentally missed,” the SSC said in the notice.
The exam was held to recruit general duty officers into the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), the Secretariat Security Force (SSF), general duty riflemen into the Assam Rifles and sepoys into the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
The majority Meiteis in the valley, which falls under the 'general' category, protested after seeing the results which they claimed looked suspicious due to an unusually high number of candidates from the Kuki-Zo tribes – under the Scheduled category Tribes (ST) – making the cut.
Meitei civil society groups claim that the SSC withdrew the exam results after their protest led to distrust in the process.
The Kuki-Zo tribes form the majority in the hill areas of southern Manipur and some other districts. The Meiteis' demand to be included in the ST category was one of the factors that ignited the fuse of ethnic violence.
Manipur BJP MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh, in a post on X, wondered if there is more to it.
“Is it a real mistake or a deep infiltration into the system, especially in places we can't get to on a 'general' basis?” said Mr Singh, referring to the 'general' category.
“But the state government is fighting against such infiltrators. CS (Principal Secretary) was instructed to take up the matter with central officials and ensure that it is rectified. It will not be easy but we all have to stand united for the cause of our state,” said Mr Singh, who is also the son-in-law of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh.
Is it a real mistake or a deep infiltration into the system, especially in places where we generally cannot reach? But the state government is fighting against such infiltrators. CS was instructed to discuss the matter with central officials and ensure that… pic.twitter.com/jusS0G1zi8
— Rajkumar Imo Singh (Modi Ka Parivaar) (@imosingh) March 19, 2024
A joint action committee of the Meitei community had asked the chief minister why no candidates from the Other Backward Classes (OBC), the Scheduled Castes (SC), the economically weaker sections and the non-reserved category were selected for the SSC exam – although the now withdrawn The results clearly showed that 107 candidates from the unreserved category had made the cut. The committee then alleged that there were inexplicably many ST candidates in the unreserved category.