Bhubaneswar, Feb. 25: Candidates who appeared for the Gram Panchayat Extension Officer/Progress Assistant tests in November last year today staged a demonstration in front of the Odisha Staff Selection Commission office demanding that the qualifying marks for success in the test be made public.

They alleged that the examination had not been conducted in a fair manner.

However, officials said it was not possible to make the qualifying marks public and unsuccessful candidates who wanted to know their marks could seek them through the Right To Information (RTI) channel. They claimed that the examination had been conducted in a very transparent manner.

Around 50 youths, who had taken a written test for the Gram Panchayat Extension Officer (GPEO)/Progress Assistant (PA) tests, protested after they did not find their names on the merit list. They said they wanted to know the cut-off marks of the preliminary examination, the results of which were published on February 24. The written examination was held on November 25 last year.

Bisworanjan Jena, a student who has been preparing for competitive examinations for the past two years, said he was shocked not to find his name on the merit list. “I had prepared well and had done well in the written examination. I was expecting to be selected for the final test. The result was a shock for me,” said Jena. Sources said there were 220 vacancies for the GPEO/PA posts all over the state. More than 30,000 job aspirants took the examination that was held in November. However, in the results that were published yesterday, the authorities named 4,400 students on the merit list who could sit for the final examination to be held on March 18.

Suresh Chandra Mohanty, chairperson of the Odisha Staff Selection Commission, said: “We published the merit list according to categories. There is no cut-off mark. We make a list in all categories as per the reservation percentage.”