In a significant move aimed at ensuring transparency in government recruitment examinations, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday announced that candidates will be allowed to take home their OMR answer sheets after appearing for government job exams.
The announcement was made during the inauguration of a ‘Jana Kalyan Shivir’ in West Bengal’s Nandigram.
The Chief Minister said that candidates would be able to retain copies of the OMR sheets containing the answers they marked during the examination process.
The decision comes against the backdrop of allegations of corruption and manipulation in various recruitment processes under the previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, particularly in the education and municipal
sectors.
Addressing the gathering, Adhikari said that the new government is committed to preventing any possibility of tampering with examination records and ensuring a fair recruitment process.
The Chief Minister also stressed the need to place greater emphasis on written examinations in competitive recruitment tests while reducing the weightage of viva voce or oral interviews.
Earlier last month, while speaking at a job fair in Sealdah, the Chief Minister had indicated such a reform, where he argued that providing carbon copies of answer sheets to candidates would help curb corruption and nepotism in
recruitment.
Since assuming office, the BJP-led government in West Bengal has repeatedly stated its intention to clean up the state administration and restore public confidence in government recruitment. The latest announcement is seen as part of that broader effort to introduce greater accountability and transparency in the hiring process.