UPSC Introduces Real-Time Face Authentication in Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2026
New Delhi, June 4 (TNT): In a major step towards enhancing examination integrity and preventing impersonation, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) successfully implemented real-time face authentication across all examination centres during the Civil Services and Indian Forest Service (Preliminary) Examination, 2026.
The technology ensured that the candidate appearing for the examination was the same individual who had uploaded the photograph during the application process.
Invigilators conducted live face verification using a mobile-phone-based application, enabling seamless identification and eliminating the possibility of impersonation and malpractice.
The face-authentication exercise was carried out at all 2,072 examination venues across the country.
The application was developed by UPSC with technical support from the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
Under the new system, every candidate was required to undergo face authentication before being allowed entry into the examination hall.
UPSC also formulated a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which was shared with state governments, district administrations and examination venues. Multiple rounds of training were conducted for invigilators to ensure smooth implementation.
One of the key advantages of the solution was its cost-effectiveness, as it required no specialised hardware.
The application functioned on standard Android smartphones, allowing invigilators to use their own devices and significantly reducing logistical and hardware expenses.
The authentication process was completed within six to eight seconds per candidate, ensuring smooth entry and preventing long queues at examination centres.
The system demonstrated remarkable scalability, with more than 7,000 invigilators using the application simultaneously. During peak entry periods, it processed nearly 12,000 authentications per minute.
Speaking on the initiative, UPSC Chairman Dr. Ajay Kumar described it as a significant step towards ensuring impersonation-free examinations.
He noted that while the technology was developed in-house with support from NeGD, the larger challenge lay in deploying it at scale, training invigilators and implementing the solution within a short timeframe.
“The technology is fully developed in-house with help of NeGD. The challenge also lay in deploying the solution at scale, leveraging the existing invigilation workforce for face authentication, training them, and accomplishing all this within a short span of time.
UPSC, NeGD and MeitY teams have done a great job in developing and implementing this solution successfully on such a large scale with nearly 5.5 lakh candidates across more than 2,000 venues,” he said.
The successful rollout of real-time face authentication marks a significant milestone in strengthening the credibility and transparency of India’s premier civil services examination and reflects UPSC’s continued commitment to leveraging technology for fair and secure public examinations.
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