Opposition Leader Jai Ram Thakur Slams Government Over Failed Police Promotion Exam
Shimla — The Himachal Pradesh Police Department’s long-awaited B-1 examination, held on Sunday for promotions from constable to head constable and assistant sub-inspector (ASI), was cancelled after technical glitches disrupted the process across the state. The online exam, conducted after a gap of nearly eight years, was marred by a server failure that caused computers to hang and submissions to fail.
Examination centres were set up in all districts, where 4,461 police personnel appeared for the test — 2,696 in the morning session and 1,765 in the evening. However, soon after the exam began, several candidates reported system freezes and unresponsive servers, preventing them from submitting their answers. The Himachal Pradesh Police Headquarters (PHQ) later confirmed that the exam had been cancelled and would be rescheduled soon.
The examination was conducted by the Himachal Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation Limited, with District Superintendents of Police serving as in-charges. Originally slated for September 21, the exam had earlier been postponed due to heavy rains. PHQ had issued detailed instructions for the smooth conduct of the test, asking candidates to reach centers on time and follow exam guidelines.
However, the day ended in confusion as the system crash stopped the exam midway in many centres. Candidates alleged poor arrangements and lack of coordination, claiming that even after waiting for several hours, no solution was found.
Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur criticised the Congress government for the failure, saying the administration’s poor planning had caused distress to thousands of police personnel. “The government’s arrangements for the B-1 examination have completely collapsed. Conducting such a large-scale exam without basic technical preparedness raises serious questions about its intentions,” he said in a statement.
Thakur alleged that the exam was conducted without a proper trial run and claimed discrepancies in the number of questions, incorrect answer options, and failure to link several centres to the main server. “People sat for six hours without resolution. This chaos shows the government’s negligence,” he added.
The Police Headquarters said a new date for the examination will be announced soon after reviewing the technical issues that led to the disruption.
