Over 5.49 lakh aspirants take UPSC Prelims 2026, face authentication rolled out

More than 5.49 lakh aspirants appeared for the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026 conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) across the country on May 24, with the Commission introducing real-time face authentication technology for the first time to strengthen security and prevent impersonation.

According to UPSC, the preliminary examination was conducted at 2,072 centers spread across 83 cities nationwide. Out of the 8.19 lakh candidates who had registered for the exam, nearly 67% appeared for the test.

The number of applicants as well as candidates who took the examination was lower compared to last year, when around 9.5 lakh candidates had registered and nearly 5.8 lakh appeared for the exam.

In a major technological intervention, UPSC implemented real-time facial authentication at all examination venues during this year’s examination process.

“This year, the Commission introduced real-time face authentication of candidates at examination venues, for the first time, to prevent impersonation and strengthen the integrity of the examination process,” a UPSC statement said.

The Commission stated that the authentication system was developed by the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and recorded a 100% success rate across all examination venues.

UPSC Chairman Dr Ajay Kumar praised the coordinated efforts of the agencies involved in executing the large-scale exercise.

“I am extremely happy with the efforts of the entire team of UPSC along with NeGD and NIC [National Informatics Centre] who worked tirelessly towards the implementation this examination. Moreover, the implementation of the face authentication protocol was perhaps one of the most complex operational exercises, and its smooth execution is a matter of great satisfaction,” he said.

Delhi recorded the highest number of candidates appearing for the examination, with 70,885 aspirants taking the test across 144 venues in the national capital.

Hyderabad emerged as the second-largest center, with 44,209 candidates appearing at 100 venues, followed by Patna, where 39,147 candidates appeared across 79 centers.

At the other end, Kargil in Ladakh reported the lowest number of candidates, with only 98 aspirants appearing at a single examination venue.

UPSC said elaborate security arrangements were made to ensure the smooth and fair conduct of the examination across all cities.

“Deployment of trained invigilatory staff and security personnel was also ensured at all centers for the orderly conduct of the examination. Mobile signal jammers were also deployed at all examination venues to ensure the fair and secure conduct of the examination,” the UPSC statement said.

In another significant change this year, UPSC announced that it would release a provisional answer key shortly after the examination for the first time.

“The Commission will initially publish a provisional answer key and invite representations, if any, from candidates until 6:00 PM on the seventh day from the date of the examination, i.e., until May 31st, 2026… The final answer key, however, will be released only after the declaration of the final result of the Civil Services Examination-2026, in accordance with the Commission’s existing practice,” it said.

The Civil Services Examination is conducted annually by UPSC for recruitment to various central services, including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), and Indian Foreign Service (IFS). The preliminary examination serves as the first stage of the multi-tier selection process.