Chandigarh, July 27 (IANS). Punjab BJP on Monday accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of betraying the people. The party says that the government makes false claims of transparency and honesty, but has repeatedly failed to maintain the integrity of government recruitment examinations.
Punjab BJP state general secretary Anil Sarin told the media here that on July 19, 7,000 candidates had appeared for the Punjab Pharmacy Officer Recruitment Examination for 454 posts and the examination paper was leaked.
“This is not an isolated incident, but part of a systemic failure,” he said.
He said that the question paper was scanned inside the examination centre, sent out, solved and the answers were delivered to the candidates through Bluetooth devices, exposing serious security lapses.
Sarin said the registrar himself admitted that officials had prior knowledge about the possible use of such electronic devices. Despite this, the government failed to install adequate jammers or take precautionary measures, raising serious questions about its intentions and capability.
He alleged that this is the sixth controversy related to examination and recruitment during the tenure of the AAP government. He cited scams like Naib Tehsildar exam, PSEB Class 12 English paper leak, PSTET controversy, irregularities in Punjab Subordinate Services Selection Board recruitment and other scams.
Sarin reminded the party that its leaders (including national leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia) had demanded resignations over exam irregularities elsewhere. He said that the same standards should now be applied in Punjab also.
The BJP demanded the immediate resignation of Health Minister Balbir Singh and Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains and held them morally responsible for the repeated failures in the examination.
Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal accused Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP of trying to hush up the matter. He said that the FIR registered in the case shows that contrary to the Chief Minister’s claim, no scanner pen was recovered.
He said, “The truth is that the exam paper was already leaked. As can be seen in the FIR, no scanner pen was seized from the centre. The FIR only mentions the seizure of Bluetooth devices and headphones. This means that the paper was already leaked and the answers were being delivered to the students through Bluetooth devices.”
–IANS
ASH/VC