Nagpur: Moving away from the usual protest venues, MPSC aspirants on Saturday gathered at Tiranga Chowk, a hub of competitive-examination coaching centres, libraries and study rooms, to protest against the alleged question paper leak and demand the resignation of Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) chairperson Vivek Bhimanwar.The choice of Tiranga Chowk drew attention as the area is located close to the RSS headquarters. However, organisers denied any political or ideological message behind the choice of venue, saying it was chosen because of the large concentration of MPSC aspirants, coaching institutes and libraries in the area.The protesters alleged that the paper leak had compromised the credibility of the commission and severely affected the trust of thousands of aspirants. Their protest comes amid the controversy surrounding the Drug Inspector examination paper leak, in which police have alleged that question sets were accessed from within the MPSC system and passed on to others.The protest, held at 10am, primarily focused on the resignation of the MPSC chairperson on moral grounds. The students said they would launch another agitation if the demand was not met.“Our protest was against the MPSC paper leak. The chairperson must resign. We also wanted to send a clear message that students can take to the streets if irregularities continue in MPSC examinations,” said Mahesh Dable.The aspirants also demanded that the MPSC Group-C 2026 recruitment advertisement provide for 20,000 posts and that the State Services Main examination be conducted in an objective format from 2027.They further sought that the Jan 3, 2027, Group-C examination be held as scheduled and dates for the State Services Main 2026, Group-B Main 2026 and Group-C Main 2026 examinations be announced at the earliest.“For students from ordinary families, MPSC is a dream. If question papers are allegedly being sold for Rs50-90 lakh, it is an injustice to thousands of aspirants who prepare honestly,” said Atish Pise.
