After the fiasco of the postponement of the state civil service prelim exam and the outrage of the aspirants, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar admitted that the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) handled the situation poorly and expressed regret for the inconvenience caused to the candidates.

He also said that there should be no more politics on this issue and students should focus on the study as the new exam date has been declared.

“In my opinion, the MPSC handled this issue poorly. The commission should have handled this situation more appropriately, however, the CM has clarified, and a new date of the prelim exam has been declared. Whatever happened was unfortunate, students should not have felt a need to come out on the roads. Yesterday’s decision caused students to suffer. As the deputy chief minister of the state, I regret the inconvenience caused to the students,” Ajit Pawar said while talking to the reporters at Council hall in Pune.

Pawar also insisted on not fuelling this issue anymore as appropriate clarification has been given by the chief minister.

“The chief minister took cognisance of this matter immediately and reassured the aspirants. This issue should not be politicised further,” Pawar said.

The state civil service preliminary exam was scheduled for March 14th but on Thursday, the MPSC announced the postponement of the examination due to the spread of Covid infection throughout the state.

This was the fifth time the examination was postponed. The announcement caused widespread outrage among state civil service aspirants throughout the state, and they staged protests in major cities such as Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Amravati.

Following this backlash, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray addressed the state late on Thursday, and a revised examination date was declared on Friday.

The state civil service preliminary examination now will be conducted on March 21st, later this month.

(With inputs from agencies)