UPSC expands conditions for attempting CSEs after being allotted for IPS, Group A Services

UPSC revises Civil Services Examination eligibility rules, introducing face authentication and new conditions for IPS and Group A candidates.

The Union Public Services Commission has expanded the restrictions on applying for the Civil Services Examination from 2026 onwards for candidates who are allotted the Indian Police Service or any other Central Services Group “A”, according to a notification for the CSE 2026 issued on Wednesday (February 4, 2026).

The notification also mandated that face authentication would be mandatory for all candidates across all examination venues, as reported by The Hindu last month. The UPSC added that live photo capture would be required at the time of filling out the common application forms for the examinations.

The expansion of the restrictions has led to some confusion on social media, even as many users pointed out that the notification had several spelling mistakes in it. One user pointed out errors in the spelling of “examination”, the spelling of the government’s PRATIBHA portal, and words such as “statutory”, “functional”, and “candidates”.

The notification said that the UPSC was looking to fill approximately 933 vacancies this year, of which 33 would be reserved for Persons with Benchmark Disability.

The UPSC notification, while keeping the restrictions for those already allotted the Indian Administrative Service or the Indian Foreign Service in past CSEs unchanged, has introduced a set of conditions.

A candidate allotted any of these services in the CSE 2026 would be eligible for the 2027 CSE if they are granted an exemption from training for that service by the “authority concerned”. The notification added that the candidate would be “eligible for grant of one-time exemption only from joining the training in order to enable him/her to appear in CSE- 2027. It added that such a candidate should join the training for “foundation course only”.