Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) today successfully conducted the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination and Indian Forest Service (Preliminary) Examination 2026. UPSC informed that the exams were conducted at more than two thousand examination venues in 83 cities across the country.

The Commission noted that nearly 5.49 lakh candidates out of over eight lakh applicants appeared for the examination, according to the provisional data. UPSC said that for the first time, real-time face authentication of candidates was introduced at examination venues to prevent impersonation and strengthen the integrity of the examination process. Chairman of UPSC, Dr Ajay Kumar, commended the efforts of the UPSC team, along with the National e-Governance Division and the National Informatics Centre, for the successful conduct of the examination. He said the smooth implementation of the face authentication protocol was a matter of great satisfaction.