Thousands March Toward Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha Over Recruitment Exam Irregularities; Protest Enters 17th Day

Ranchi: Job aspirants in large numbers took to the streets of Ranchi on Monday, launching a march toward the state assembly to press their demands over malpractice in Jharkhand's recruitment examinations, as the agitation stretched into its 17th day.

JLKM leader Devendra Nath Mahto, who has gone without food for nine days in protest and shed 10.5 kg in the process, joined the demonstration from inside an ambulance. He held aloft a portrait of former chief minister Shibu Soren as the march got underway.

Protesters, waving the tricolour and holding placards, chanted slogans throughout the march, which began near the old assembly complex in Dhurwa and was headed toward the new Vidhan Sabha building. The timing carried added symbolism, coinciding with Chief Minister Hemant Soren's 51st birthday.

Authorities responded with prohibitory orders and a substantial security presence spanning the roughly four-kilometre route, with senior police officials overseeing the operation on the ground. According to PTI, more than 1,500 personnel, drawn from the Rapid Action Force, Indian Reserve Battalion, district police and QRT, had been stationed along the way, while the majority of schools across the city stayed shut for the day as a precaution.

Multiple rounds of talks between the state government and protest leaders have so far failed to end the impasse. While the administration claimed it had accepted 98 percent of the demonstrators' demands after the latest round of discussions, protesters disputed this, pointing out that of the 13 examinations they want annulled, only three have actually been cancelled so far.

Ravindra Paswan of the JPSC-JSSC Reforms Manch made clear the protest would continue unabated until the government agrees to a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities.

At the core of the movement are calls for wide-ranging reform within the Jharkhand Public Service Commission and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission, alongside demands to scrap several recruitment exams — including the 14th JPSC Civil Services Examination — and to institute an independent investigation, to be carried out either by the CBI or by a panel of retired high court judges from outside the state.