27 questions, 67 candidates, one hearing: UPSC's answer key goes on trial

The country's most prestigious examination is about to face its toughest examiners: its own candidates. On October 8, the Central Administrative Tribunal will hear petitions from 67 aspirants challenging 27 questions in the 2026 Civil Services Preliminary Examination, arguing that the UPSC's provisional answer key is wrong, ambiguous, or offers no correct option at all. Two groups of candidates have approached the tribunal. Four aspirants have challenged eight questions in the General Studies paper, claiming factual errors and incorrect answers in the key could have cost them more than 16 marks. A larger group of 63 candidates has challenged all 27 questions, including those eight, spanning both the General Studies and aptitude papers. The tribunal issued notice to the Commission on September 9, and both cases will be heard together. The preliminary examination was held on May 24, with the provisional key released three days later, results in June and the Mains conducted in August. In an examination with negative marking where cut-offs are decided by razor-thin margins, the petitioners say, even one or two wrongly keyed questions can swallow an entire year of preparation. Among the disputed questions is one on Grand Slam tennis tournaments, where candidates say the official answer overlooks a ranking threshold in the tournaments' own rules, and one on the Zero FIR provision under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, where the Hindi and English versions of the paper allegedly use different language — "investigation" in one and "preliminary inquiry" in the other — leading candidates to different conclusions depending on which language they read. The candidates had raised their objections through the UPSC's Question Paper Representation Portal and sent a detailed representation by email on June 2 with supporting documents. They say they received no response explaining whether their objections were accepted or rejected. Separately, aspirants are demanding that the UPSC release a detailed break-up of marks to aid preparation — a demand experts say should be met after the final result, when the exam cycle concludes, so as not to disturb the ongoing selection process. Around 5.5 lakh candidates appeared for the preliminary examination. Aspirants from Hindi-medium and regional-language backgrounds have also complained of poor translations and complicated language in the vernacular papers, alleging an uneven playing field. Several argue that if the pattern or syllabus orientation is changing significantly, aspirants deserve clearer communication in advance. The controversy has revived a larger question: is the examination meant to filter talent, or merely to reject it? As The Hindu asked in an editorial this week, the prelims appear "tough by design or default" — raising uncomfortable questions about fairness, design, and whether the system is identifying merit at all.