Real-Time Face Authentication Introduced for the First Time in the UPSC-Civil Services Examination 2026

The Union Public Service Commission conducted the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026 and Indian Forest Service (Preliminary) Examination 2026 on 24 May 2026 across 2,072 venues in 83 cities nationwide.

Out of 8,19,732 registered candidates, around 5.49 lakh candidates (about 67%) appeared in the examination according to provisional data.

In comparison, nearly 61% of the 9.5 lakh registered candidates had appeared in the Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2025.

For the first time, UPSC introduced real-time face authentication at examination centres to prevent impersonation and strengthen examination integrity.

The face authentication system was developed indigenously through National e-Governance Division under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and was successfully implemented across all venues.

UPSC Chairman Dr. Ajay Kumar praised the efforts of UPSC, NeGD, and National Informatics Centre for the smooth conduct of the technologically advanced examination process.

The examination was conducted in two sessions: General Studies Paper-I from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM and CSAT Paper-II from 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM.

Delhi recorded the highest number of applicants with 70,885 candidates across 144 venues, followed by Hyderabad and Patna.

Kargil had the lowest number of applicants with 98 candidates, followed by Port Blair and Leh.

UPSC ensured facilities such as drinking water, power backup, medical support, sanitation, shaded waiting areas, and accessibility arrangements for PwBD candidates at all centres.

Mobile signal jammers and trained security personnel were deployed at all venues to ensure fair and secure conduct of the examination.

To reduce congestion, UPSC added three new examination centres at Bhubaneswar, Kanpur, and Meerut.

UPSC also introduced a dropdown option allowing candidates to select preferred nearby cities for future examination centre planning.

For the first time, UPSC announced that it would release a provisional answer key shortly after the examination and invite candidate representations until 31 May 2026.

The final answer key will be released only after the declaration of the final result of the Civil Services Examination 2026.

A total of 11,224 candidates belonged to PwBD and PwD categories, and eligible candidates were provided compensatory time during the examination.

UPSC stated that the successful conduct of the examination reflected stronger institutional mechanisms ensuring fairness, efficiency, and credibility in the examination system.

Source: PIB