The UP Exam Amit Shah Hailed for 'Transparency' Was Cancelled Last Year After a Paper Leak

New Delhi: On June 15, 2025, during an event held in Lucknow, Union home minister Amit Shah distributed appointment letters to 60,244 constables who were chosen as part of the 'largest recruitment process to date' for the Uttar Pradesh Police.

During the programme, Shah characterised this recruitment as entirely transparent and asserted that no recommendations, bribes, or caste-community affiliations were taken into account – the selection was based solely on merit.

This assertion by the home minister raises doubts on several fronts.

To begin with, while making the claim in the presence of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath, Amit Shah overlooked the fact that last year, the same examination, 'Reservist Civil Police Direct Recruitment 2023', faced allegations of corruption and had to be investigated by the UP Special Task Force. He also failed to recall that a year before that, the UP government was compelled to cancel this examination due to a paper leak.

Subsequently, the examination was held again, after which recruitments have now taken place. This second examination, the virtues of which Shah was extolling, was held because the original was cancelled last year – a fact which jeopardised the lives of numerous candidates.

Secondly, the organisation tasked with conducting this examination, Edutest Solutions Private Limited, had previously faced a ban from the Bihar government due to an unrelated paper leak incident. Despite this, the UP government granted a contract to this company to manage the examination.

Thirdly, it was also overlooked that even after being blacklisted by the UP government on June 20, 2024, the organisation led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), continued to utilise the services of Edutest for recruitment to the positions of Section Officer (SO) and Assistant Section Officer (ASO), amidst allegations of significant irregularities.

A fourth fact which Shah failed to acknowledge is that this company is based in Gujarat and has ties with BJP leaders.

In short, the examination, which the home minister of the country characterized as transparent, not only has a history of paper leaks and corruption, but the organisation responsible for administering the exam has been banned time and again. Yet, it has continued to conduct numerous examinations.

An exam with a history of paper leaks

The examination for the recruitment of constables in the UP Police took place on February 17 and February 18, 2024. Over 48 lakh youth participated. However, following allegations of a question paper leak, there arose a demand for the examination to be conducted again.

More than 120 people were apprehended from various regions of the state for engaging in cheating. Some proxy candidates were arrested for taking the exam on behalf of actual candidates, while others were held for helping candidates cheat.

The then Director General of Police, Prashant Kumar, said, “Among the total of 122 individuals arrested, 15 were detained in Etah, nine each in Mau, Prayagraj, and Siddharthnagar, eight in Ghazipur, seven in Azamgarh, six in Gorakhpur, five in Jaunpur, four in Firozabad, three each in Kaushambi and Hathras, two each in Jhansi, Varanasi, Agra, and Kanpur, and one each in Ballia, Deoria, and Bijnor.”

It is thus evident that the corruption associated with this examination was widespread across the state.

The state government established the special task force to look into the leak in February 2024. In March 2024, the task force arrested Neeraj Yadav, a resident of Ballia, who was accused of sharing answers with candidates via WhatsApp. It also made numerous other arrests.

Examination cancelled, questions raised about the company involved

As candidates from all over the state gathered in Lucknow to protest, Adityanath was compelled to announce the cancellation of the examination.

The Gujarat-based agency Edutest, which was tasked with conducting this examination, was blacklisted by the state government on June 20, 2024.

This was not the first instance of concerns being raised about this company.

The Wire Hindi, in a detailed report published in three parts last year, indicated that prior to securing the tender for the police recruitment examination in Uttar Pradesh, Edutest had been blacklisted in Bihar due to irregularities in examination processes.

Blacklisted company's close ties with BJP leaders

Despite being embroiled in repeated controversies, the company has secured contracts from BJP-governed states and the CSIR, which is led by Modi himself.

According to a report published in The Wire Hindi previously, its founding director maintains strong connections with several prominent BJP leaders, including Modi.

Sureshchandra Arya, the founding director of EduTest, serves as the president of a well-known Hindu organisation called 'Sarvadeshik Arya Pratinidhi Sabha'. This Sabha hosted a four-day International Arya Maha Sammelan in 2018, attended by many senior BJP and Sangh leaders. The then-president Ram Nath Kovind was present at the inaugural ceremony of the Maha Sammelan, where Sureshchandra Arya delivered the welcome address.

In February 2023, PM Modi inaugurated the celebrations for the 200th birth anniversary of Dayanand Saraswati in New Delhi. During this Arya Samaj event, Arya shared the stage with Modi, who also acknowledged him in his speech.

Sureshchandra Arya to the right of PM Modi. Photo: Narendra Modi's website.

Questions on the examination of the institution headed by the PM

Vineet Arya, the managing director of Edutest and Sureshchandra’s son, was imprisoned in 2017 due to irregularities associated with the examination. 

Irregularities surfaced at various stages during the recruitment examination for the CSIR's section officer and assistant section officer positions. The initial phase of the examination took place online at multiple centers across the country from February 5 to February 20, 2024. On February 8, 2024, the Uttarakhand Police conducted a raid at an examination centre, resulting in the arrest of one Ankit Dhiman, who confessed to having solved a candidate's paper.

In light of these allegations, candidates sought recourse through the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). However, even before any resolution could be reached, further mismanagement and irregularities were uncovered during the second phase of the examination, which was held in major metropolitan areas on July 7, 2024.

The record books do not look kindly upon the UP police recruitment examination and the firm that previously conducted it – something that Shah probably should have acknowledged before claiming it was a "corruption-free process."

Translated from the Hindi original – which first appeared on The Wire Hindi – by Naushin Rehman. 

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