SSC Withdraws Exam Results For Manipur, Says Data Of One Phase Missed Out Inadvertently

The Staff Selection Commission's (SSC) move to withdraw the results of an exam for Manipur to recruit constables and other personnel has run into a huge controversy.

The SSC, which recruits personnel for ministries and departments, in a notice on Monday on its website said it withdrew the exam results after it found the results didn't have data of one phase of the exam.

The SSC said in the notice the physical and medical tests for candidates in Manipur were conducted in phases due to the law and order situation in the state. Tension is still simmering 10 months after ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur.

"... While processing the result dated 15.03.2024, the data pertaining to one phase was inadvertently missed out," the SSC said in the notice.

The exam was held to recruit general duty constables in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), Secretariat Security Force (SSF), general duty riflemen in the Assam Rifles, and sepoys in the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

The valley-majority Meiteis, who come under the 'general' category, protested after seeing the results which they claimed seemed suspect due to an unusually high number of candidates from the Kuki-Zo tribes - under Scheduled Tribes (ST) category - making the cut.

Meitei civil society groups have alleged the SSC withdrawing the exam results after the protest by them has led to mistrust in the process.

The Kuki-Zo tribes are a majority in the hill areas in southern Manipur and a few other districts. The Meiteis' demand for inclusion under the ST category was one of the factors that lit the fuse of the ethnic violence.

Manipur BJP MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh in a post on X questioned whether there is more to the matter.

"Is it a genuine mistake or deep infiltration in the system, especially in places where we aren't able to reach on a 'general' basis?" Mr Singh said, referring to the 'general' category.

"But the state government is fighting against such infiltrators. CS (Chief Secretary) was instructed to take up the matter with central officials and ensure its rectification. It isn't going to 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.

A joint action committee of the Meitei community had asked the Chief Minister why no candidates from the Other Backward Classes (OBC), Scheduled Castes (SC), economically weaker sections, and unreserved category were selected in the SSC exam - although the now-withdrawn results clearly showed 107 candidates from unreserved category made the cut. The committee then alleged there were inexplicably many ST candidates among the unreserved category.