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The candidates protesting over vacant posts in the Chhattisgarh Police recruitment drive continued their agitation for the fourth consecutive day on Monday, camping outside the residence of State Home Minister Vijay Sharma in Kawardha. The candidates are demanding that the 1,940 vacant posts among the 5,967 posts advertised for the Chhattisgarh District Reserve Police Force (DRPF) be filled and a second selection list be released.

According to one of the protesting candidates, RTI documents show that 4,367 posts have been filled so far through the initial selection process and the waiting list, leaving 1,940 posts vacant. The candidate alleged that the vacancies arose because the same candidates were selected in multiple districts, with some names appearing in eight or nine district lists, as well as in the waiting list. "We are here regarding the recruitment for the Chhattisgarh District Reserve Police Force, for which an advertisement was issued for 5,967 posts. According to RTI documents, a total of 4,367 posts have been filled so far, combining the initial selection process and the waiting list. Our demand is that all the posts be filled. These posts remain vacant because the same individual's name appeared in the lists for multiple districts--some in 8 or 9 places. The same candidate's name also appears on the waiting list. This multiple selection is the reason why 1,940 posts are currently lying vacant," a candidate told ANI.

Candidates Allege Flawed Recruitment Process

He added, "Today marks the fourth day of our protest. We demand that all the posts be filled and that the 1,940 vacant posts out of the original 5,967 be released as soon as possible. Our agitation will continue, and we will not leave this spot until the second list is released."

Another protesting candidate, Raja Ratnakar, alleged that the vacancies were caused by a change in the selection process. "The reason is that they changed the selection process, and this led to so many vacancies. We are simply asking that the posts originally advertised--the sanctioned posts included in the budget--be filled. That is our only demand. But the government isn't even doing that because it changed the selection process, which caused these vacancies. Under the previous selection process, all the posts used to get filled. We don't know what reasoning led them to change it or if they changed it deliberately," Ratnakar told ANI.

He further alleged, "A single candidate's name appeared in six or seven districts. Even after being selected in one district, that same person remained on the waiting list for another. Since one person appeared in multiple districts, they would join in only one place, leaving the posts in the other districts vacant. We had foreseen this situation. We submitted a representation before the results were declared, warning that the method they intended to use would lead to this outcome. But they didn't listen to us; they acted arbitrarily," he added.

The protesters said they had worked for five to six years in preparation for the recruitment and demanded that all 5,967 advertised posts be filled. "A total of 5,967 posts were advertised. Out of those, 1,940 posts ended up vacant precisely because of this multiple-selection issue. We have just one demand: fill all the advertised posts because we have put in five or six years of hard work. The Home Minister came yesterday. The argument he gave was that a "technical error" was occurring; yet, the original proposal was to fill posts based on merit. We didn't even get a chance to voice this," he added. (ANI)