Bhopal, Oct 7 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh Employees Selection Board, earlier known as Vyapam, is all set to begin written examination to recruit 7,500 new police constables from October 30, which will be followed by a physical test conducted by the state police.

It is the first police recruitment exam which is being conducted by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav-led BJP government.

In the past, police recruitment exams conducted in 2023 during former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, had witnessed alleged irregularities.

According to the Madhya Pradesh Employees Selection Board, 9.76 lakh applications were received for just 7,500 constable posts, that is, around 13,000 candidates are competing for one job.

The examination will be conducted online, with exam centres set up across 11 districts in Madhya Pradesh, including Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Khandwa, Neemuch, Rewa, Ratlam, Sagar, Satna, Sidhi and Ujjain.

In 2023, the fraud was exposed in Gwalior, where five candidates from Morena, Shivpuri and Sheopur districts were found to have used a solver to appear for the written exam.

Following this, an FIR was lodged and a major political controversy had emerged before the state Assembly elections.

Relentless protests from job aspirants against irregularities had then prompted the state government to put the appointment on hold for several months, until a detail investigation revealed that some candidates had updated their Aadhaar cards before and after the written examination with the photo of a solver, which enabled them to appear for the test fraudulently.

Notably, written exams will be conducted in 11 districts, including Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain and Jabalpur but not a single district from Gwalior-Chambal region chosen for exam centre during this time.

This particular region has earned bad name due to consecutive irregularities in recruitment exams conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Employees Selection Board.

A total 9.76 lakh applicants, including 42 PhD scholars and more than 12,000 engineers have applied for police constable positions, which will offer a salary ranging from Rs 19,500 to Rs 62,000 per month.

The online application process began on September 15 and was originally scheduled to close on September 29.

However, due to the large number of applications coming in, the process was extended till October 6.

–IANS

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