Edappadi Demands Probe Into Assistant Professor Exam Results

Chennai: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Sunday urged the state government to launch an independent and comprehensive investigation into the recently announced assistant professor recruitment exam results, alleging widespread irregularities and arbitrary evaluation in the descriptive article. Teacher Recruitment Board (TRB) announced the written exam results dated June 25, 2026, to fill the vacant 2,708 assistant professor positions in state arts and science faculties within the scope of the recruitment campaign it carried out last December, after an interval of approximately 25 years.

According to TRB sources, a total of 42,064 candidates participated in the exam, which consisted of a 150-point target type section and a 50-point explanatory essay paper.

“Reports show that 42 candidates who scored exceptionally high in the objective section were given ‘0’ marks in the descriptive essay, while 106 candidates received only ‘1’ marks. In particular, one candidate from the Tamil department, who scored 111 out of 150 marks in the objective test, was given zero in the essay section,” Palaniswami said in a statement.

“In contrast, many candidates who scored very low in the objective section were rewarded with scores as high as 49 out of 50 in the descriptive essay, greatly changing the final merit ranking,” he claimed.

Stating how a candidate who scores over 100 points in the objective document can get zero in the descriptive section or vice versa, the former prime minister said, “This clearly reflects an inconsistent and biased evaluation process.”

He alleged that mismanagement in the previous years left more than 50 per cent of the posts of assistant professors and various principal posts vacant, resulting in higher education enrollment rate falling to 47 per cent from the peak of 51.4 per cent during the AIADMK regime (2019-20).

Calling on the government to immediately cancel the current TRB assistant professor exam results and launch a comprehensive and independent investigation into the irregularities, Palaniswai said strict legal action should be taken against anyone found guilty of malfeasance.