ITANAGAR, 1 Jul: The Arunachal Frontier Tribal Front (AFTF) has described as unprecedented the recent Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board (APSSB) examination results, in which less than 5%of the total vacancies for constable general duty (civil police) and constable IRBn (band/bugler) have been filled.
In a memorandum to the home minister, the AFTF stated that only 20 out of the 426 posts were filled, accounting for a mere 4.7% of the total posts.
The organization attributed the low percentage to “tough question papers of graduate level instead of secondary level,” a rigid cut-off mark of 33 percent in each subject and 45 percent in aggregate, and negative marking system.
The AFTF appealed to the competent authority to release the answer keys and OMR sheets, waive off the negative marking system, and relax the cut-off marks to accommodate the remaining 406 posts. The organization appealed to the home minister to shortlist the highest scoring candidates for the remaining 406 posts.
It stated: “If the waving-off of the negative marking system is not feasible, then the cut-off marks of 33% in each subject can be suitably relaxed and the remaining posts can be adjusted and accommodated accordingly.”
It further said that if all the pleas made are not feasible at all, a one-time age relaxation should be considered to make the candidates eligible to appear for the remaining 406 posts in the subsequent recruitment examination for these posts.
The organization noted that the examination’s toughness level was equivalent to the preliminary examination of the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission Combined Competitive Examination. Regarding age relaxation, the AFTF stated that there was a five-year gap between the advertisement and examination dates.
“The constable GD (Civil Police) & Constable IRBn(Band/Bugler) Examination, 2020, conducted on 13.07.2025, was advertised in the year 2020, when the age criteria was 18 years to 28 years. However, the examination was conducted after more than five years, when majority of the candidates crossed their age limits,” it added.
