Bhubaneswar, March 6: Job aspirants who had applied for the posts of inspectors of supplies in the state government today staged a demonstration outside the office of the Odisha Staff Selection Commission (OSSC) in Unit-V here demanding transparency in the examination process.

Around 30 job seekers, who had not been able to crack the preliminary examination held on January 13, alleged that they had been sure of qualifying, but the results published on March 1 disappointed them. When they wanted to check their marks, the authorities did not pay heed.

The aspirants said that in the past two years there had been several discrepancies in the results because of lack of transparency in the process.

“After the exam, I was sure I would succeed. But when the results came, I found my name was missing,” said Chinmay Ransingh, an aspirant.

All those who were protesting had the same grouse as Chinmay. “After my preliminary test I was sure I would crack it. I had started preparing for the main examination and viva. The results disappointed me,” said Sarbeswar Biswal, another job applicant.

Some of the agitators suggested that the authorities should make arrangements for an applicant to get a carbon copy of the Optical Mark Reader of his answers and publish the answer keys after the examination, so that they could check their answers and be sure about their chances. “Many recruitment examinations held at the central level have such options and they remain transparent in their process,” said Biswal.

Sudhir Ranjan Sahu, 34, said that last year in a similar recruitment examination organised by the OSSC, he did not crack the preliminary test even though he was sure he would. “When I asked the authorities, they said I had secured 33 out of 100. I collected my paper through RTI and found that I had scored 91. But by that time the recruitment process was over. I filed a case in the high court,” said Sahu.

Today, as the chairperson was on leave, OSSC member Debendra Prasad Dhal and secretary Ramesh Chandra Patra discussed the matter with the agitators and assured them the answers would be checked. This brought the protest to an end.

“I will talk to the chairperson. We will also discuss the suggestions these people have given. We will check with other such examinations held in the state and in other parts of the country,” said Dhal.

For 156 posts of inspector of supplies, around 42,000 applicants had applied in the state, of whom 3,600 had cracked the preliminary examination.