Indore: A key claim made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ event in Indore regarding recruitment in Madhya Pradesh has been fact-checked and found to be incorrect, a post on the X handle of “Jhooth Ki Goonj” said.
Gandhi had said that in all recruitment drives conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission over the past eight years, 13 per cent of the posts were kept on hold, resulting in 4.87 lakh posts remaining pending. The claim does not stand scrutiny. The 87:13 formula, under which 87 per cent of vacancies were filled while 13 per cent were kept in abeyance, has not been in operation for eight years, it said.
The relevant circular of the Madhya Pradesh General Administration Department was issued only on September 29, 2022 — barely four years ago. It therefore could not have affected all recruitment exercises conducted over the preceding eight years.
The background of the dispute dates to 2019, when the then Congress government led by Kamal Nath raised OBC reservation from 14 per cent to 27 per cent. The decision triggered litigation over the constitutional validity of the enhanced quota. The notification was issued without fully addressing the legal complications that followed, it said.
Importantly, the formula did not halt recruitment. Appointments continued against 87 per cent of the advertised vacancies. The remaining 13 per cent of posts were not cancelled. Separate provisional lists of OBC and unreserved category candidates were prepared so that appointments could be made in line with the final court verdict.
In January 2025, the Madhya Pradesh High Court upheld the 87:13 arrangement as an interim mechanism. The court allowed recruitment to proceed while safeguarding the claims of both sets of candidates pending the final outcome of the litigation, the post clarified.
It further said that available reports estimate that approximately 10,000 posts across various Madhya Pradesh government recruitments were affected by the formula. This figure is far lower than the 4.87 lakh MPPSC posts cited in the claim.
The fact-check underlines that while the 87:13 mechanism did create temporary uncertainty in a limited number of recruitments, the assertion that nearly five lakh posts remained pending for eight years due to this formula is not supported by the official record or the timeline of the circular, it said.
(IANS)
