Ranchi, Aug. 10: Belying all apprehensions, the examination conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) to recruit around 8,836 primary teachers passed off peacefully amid tight security.

The examinations were held at 119 centres, including 78 examination centres in the capital, 21 in Bokaro and 20 in Dhanbad.

JPSC chairman Dilip Prasad confirmed that of the 45,224 candidates, 41,582 turned up in the first sitting while 41,579 appeared in the second half. “This adds up to 91.82 per cent turnout, he said.

Prasad said that the number of absentees in Ranchi was 2,392, while 866 candidates skipped the exam in Bokaro and 384 in Dhanbad.

Deputy commissioner of Ranchi Avinash Kumar and senior superintendent of police M.S. Bhatia, confirmed that there was no report of violence during examination from any part of the district.

The examination started at 10am and continued till 4pm in two sittings.

Elaborate security arrangements were made to ensure peaceful examination as pro-domicile groups wanted the examination to be cancelled. The Adivasi Moolvasi Janadhikar Manch, which had earlier threatened to disrupt the examination, did not resort to any untoward action. It just organised a meeting at Poddar Bhavan in Chutia this afternoon and decided to meet governor and chief minister for fulfilment of its demand. The Chhatra Yuva Sangharsha Samiti, opposed to their plan, organised a torchlight procession from Piska More to Albert Ekka Chowk.

Since aspirants for the Bengali teachers’ post were kept out of the examination, the Bangla Bhasha Unnayan Samiti has threatened of a massive dharna in front of Raj Bhavan on August 20.