Confusion and controversy arose when two candidates with the same name of Akanksha Singh both claimed the rank of 301 at the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2025 (conducted by UPSC), which confused many aspirants and led to a lot of social media activity and discussion.
On March 6th, UPSC released the final result of CSE 2025, where 958 candidates would be recommended for selection to Indian Administrative Service (IAS)/Indian Police Service (IPS)/Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and others.
When the results were released, reports stated that both Akanksha Singh candidates were claiming rank 301 with supporting documents; one Akanksha was from Ghazipur and the other from Ara, making it even more difficult to distinguish between their respective claims. As a result, aspirants and the public began to create confusion about what the rankings actually meant.
The unique situation was then publicised widely on social media as many individuals began supporting their respective claims with screenshots of the admit cards and roll numbers of both candidates.
Competing Claims From Two Candidates
An individual from Ara, Bihar who gave interviews to the media said that she had achieved the accomplishment she has today of passing this difficult exam, after two attempts. It was also her dream to complete her grandfather’s ambition.
Another participant from Ghazipur (Uttar Pradesh) asserted that someone else was using her name and result. She provided evidence through various documents (admit card, etc.) via social media and claimed that the person had secured her result. In addition, there were documents circulating which indicated that all of these individuals had the same roll number, however their fathers’ names were different; this created suspicion that there was a coordinated act of impersonation or forged documents.
After speculation was rampant, the Government of India provided clarification through the Press Information Bureau identifying who attained a particular rank in the Civil Services Exam based on records obtained from the Union Public Service Commission.
The government stated that there is only one person named Akanksha Singh who had attained Rank 301 for Civil Services Examination, 2025, and the UPSC has verified this with the only real Akanksha Singh.
- Name: Akanksha Singh
- Roll Number: 0856794
- Father’s Name: Ranjit Singh
- Mother’s Name: Neelam Singh
- Residence: Village Abhaipur, Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh
This clarification effectively resolved the confusion, confirming that the Ghazipur-based candidate is the legitimate holder of Rank 301.
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Social Media Amplified the Controversy
The controversy surrounding the UPSC Civil Services Examination arose after an initial investigation was performed. News channels had already reported on the alleged distribution of “fake” admit cards and two people produced videos to support their claims. The two sides continually refuted eachanother’s claims thus creating more hype and speculation regarding how credible or accurate the online claims were concerning the results due to the high level of curiosity created by the UPSC.
The official response from the UPSC was issued to ensure transparency; they stated that the clarification was made public to help prevent misinformation about the results of the examination.
However, from what will be elaborated upon later, social media has quickly and easily magnified and disseminated unverified, speculative information regarding an examination (i.e. the UPSC) due to the administrative nature of the examination test, due to the nature of the UPSC and the resulting competition aspects involved with the civil service that there are multiple candidates competing for placement on the final merit list following the preliminary exam, mains, and personality tests.
Having occurred previously, for the UPSC to complete the recruitment process as efficiently as possible, the institution’s thorough and extensive administrative requirements have made the civil service recruitment process a very prestigious position. Therefore, any potential controversy regarding the selection process, will create a very high degree of speculation by the general public, since there are also other government sanctioned/public service agencies who also administer similar examinations.
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Matter Settled After Clarification
After announcing its official position on the issue, the UPSC now confirms that Akanksha Singh of Ghazipur (Uttar Pradesh), is the only candidate that received rank 301 in the 2025 Civil Services Exam. This has clarified much of the confusion surrounding two candidates who were both named Akanksha Singh claiming to have received the same rank.
This situation serves as an important reminder about verifying all records from official sources prior to passing along any information to others regarding high stakes national tests and other important events.
