UPSC 2026 Prelims Exam: According to a government statement issued on Thursday, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) successfully implemented real-time face authentication across all exam centers during the Civil Services and Indian Forest Service (Preliminary) Examination held on May 24. The move aimed to prevent impersonation and strengthen the credibility of the examination process.
According to the Commission, the face-authentication protocol ensured that the candidate who appeared for the exam with the admit card was the same individual who had uploaded their photograph while submitting the application.
System Conducted Live Verification of Approximately 550,000 Candidates Across More than 2,072 Exam Centres During this year’s Civil Services Prelims Exam
The system conducted live verification of approximately 550,000 candidates across more than 2,072 exam centres during this year’s Civil Services Prelims Exam on May 24, 2026. A mobile-phone-based application was used for this purpose, utilized simultaneously by over 7,000 invigilators.
The UPSC stated that the application verified candidates’ identities in an average of 6–8 seconds, processed around 12,000 authentications per minute, and prevented long queues from forming at the exam centers.
The Commission developed and implemented this application with technical assistance from the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
UPSC Chairman Ajay Kumar stated that the initiative aimed to ensure an examination free from impersonation. He said, “This technology was developed entirely in-house with the help of NeGD. However, the challenge lay in implementing this solution on a large scale, utilizing existing invigilation staff for face authentication, training them, and completing the entire process within a short timeframe.”
The UPSC also formulated a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for this process, which was shared with states, districts, and examination centers. Subsequently, multiple rounds of training were conducted for the invigilators.
The Commission stated that this system does not require any specialized hardware and can operate on any Android smartphone. Invigilators used their own mobile phones for the authentication process, thereby reducing hardware costs and simplifying logistical requirements.
The UPSC Civil Services Examination is one of the toughest and most competitive exams in the country, attracting thousands of candidates annually. Last year, 937,876 candidates applied for the exam, out of whom 576,793 actually appeared for it on May 25, 2025. A total of 14,161 candidates qualified for the written (Main) examination, and of those, 2,736 qualified for the Personality Test. Ultimately, only 958 candidates were selected for appointment to various services.
