Explained: Why The Tamil Nadu Assistant Professor Recruitment Exam Has Triggered A Political Row

The results of a recruitment examination to appoint over 2,700 Assistant Professors in Tamil Nadu government colleges have come under scrutiny after candidates, academicians and political parties pointed to what they describe as inconsistent marking between the objective and descriptive sections of the test. The results were released on June 25, 2026.

The examination was part of a larger recruitment exercise notified by the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) to fill 2,708 posts out of more than 8,000 vacancies across 188 government colleges in Tamil Nadu. The notification was issued in line with an interim court order, according to PTI. The exam was conducted on December 27, 2025, across 48 subjects, and 42,064 candidates appeared for it. The paper included an eligibility section, an objective-type elective paper for 150 marks, and a descriptive essay paper for 50 marks. The objective paper was conducted in multiple-choice format and answer keys were released.

The controversy has emerged from claims that candidates who scored high marks in the objective paper received zero, single-digit or very low marks in the essay paper. Critics, including academicians and political parties, have cited these patterns from the results and called for a detailed examination of the evaluation process.

What the results show

Several academicians and political parties reviewed the published results and raised questions over the gap in marking between the two papers. They pointed to cases where candidates performed strongly in the objective section but reportedly received nil or very low marks in the essay component.

A former Anna University professor, speaking on condition of anonymity, told PTI that the results should be cancelled and an independent investigation conducted. He said, "The results show that the persons who deserve to get good marks in the first paper, got nil marks in the second, cannot be acceptable", he added.

What Are Political Parties and Academicians Saying About the Evaluation?

Political parties, including the Opposition DMK, AIADMK and PMK, have called for a probe into the alleged irregularities. Academicians have also raised concerns over the evaluation process and the absence of a clear official explanation after the results were released.

P B Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary of the State Platform for Common School System – Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN), said, "TRB has a robust mechanism to conduct a foolproof examination. Despite such strong structure, the repeated controversy in various exams is cause for worry".

He also said, "Even after days since the issue (exam results) was discussed in public, the TRB is yet to come out with a convincing statement on what has happened in the evaluation," and added that senior officials must take responsibility and explain the situation.

He further said, "The best process will be to cancel the recruitment examination, and prepare a registry with names of all qualified guest lecturers and temporary teachers serving in the government arts and science colleges, and based on the seniority and other academic credits, the teacher vacancies should be filled".

How Have the Government and TRB Responded to the Allegations?

A senior official from the Higher Education Department, speaking anonymously, said the government is “seriously looking into the issue” and that a formal communication would be issued soon.

PTI reported that the official also said the Teachers Recruitment Board had only uploaded the marks awarded by examiners who evaluated the answer sheets.

Separately, representatives of the Tamil Nadu All Government College UGC Qualified Guest Lecturers Association met the TRB chairman and submitted a memorandum on the issue.

Association president V Thangaraj said, "Various political parties have flayed these irregularities and voiced their support for our cause. On behalf of our association, we express our heartfelt gratitude to them. We sincerely hope the government will release a fresh exam notification that leaves absolutely no room for irregularities".

He also raised concerns over “strange symbols” appearing alongside marks in the result sheets. Officials said these symbols were part of internal mark verification and appeared due to a server error, and were not linked to evaluation irregularities.

(With inputs from PTI)