UPSC Allows Civil Service Aspirants To Withdraw Applications: What Does It Mean?

This is the first time candidates who have applied for the Civil Services exam can withdraw their application forms, if they wish not to appear for the exam. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) had introduced this facility in 2019 for other exam it conducts.

Application Withdrawal Link

With this, candidates who register for the exam but later decide not to take the exam can withdraw their application forms. Only completely filled and submitted applications can be withdrawn.

Only the application can be withdrawn, as per the UPSC rules. The application fee is non-refundable.

UPSC allows Civil Service exam candidates to withdraw their application forms. 

This method was implemented by UPSC to filter out under-prepared candidates from the rest and provide better quality of exam venues to those who will take the exam.

Over 4.75 Lakh Vacancies To Be Filled Soon: Jitendra Singh

"We are looking into better quality of venues for the examinations and see if we can introduce a system whereby non-serious and under-prepared candidates could be encouraged to withdraw their applications well in time to reduce the logistics required for conducting examinations," the Chairman had said in 2018 on the 92nd Foundation Day of the UPSC.

"The Commission has to book venues, print papers, hire invigilators and ship the documents for all the 10 lakh applicants- which turns out to be a 50% waste of energy and resources," he had said citing civil services exam as an example.

In 2018-2019 a total of 1065552 candidates had applied for Civil Services exam and 500484 had appeared for it.

During 2018-2019, UPSC conducted 14 exams and  a total of 30,35,783 applications were received and processed. A total of 15,72,977 candidates had actually appeared for the exam.

During January-June 2019, State Public Service Commissions had conducted 11 exams and  had received 21,74,070 applications for them. However only 11,58,983 candidates, which is 53.3% of the total candidates who had registered, actually appeared for the exam. Application withdrawal facility has not been introduced in State Public Service Commission exams.

Contrary to what many candidates are assuming it to be, application withdrawal has no connection with saving the attempt of a candidate in the exam. As it has been clearly mentioned in the exam notice, candidates' attempt will be counted only when they appear for the exam, not when they apply for it.

However by withdrawing their applications, candidates who feel they have not prepared well for the exam can save a precious attempt.

Click here for more Jobs News