PATNA, Jan. 22 -- The first phase of the interview process for the 70th Combined Competitive Exam conducted by Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC), got underway on Wednesday, and will continue till February 28. BPSC has this time initiated a new innovation to give the candidates the chance of choosing the board they would face, through a lottery system. There are usually 4-6 different boards and candidates are called for interview in batches on a particular day. With questions raised over the way marking is done by different boards, now it has been left to the students to choose their board through the draw of lots. "It is a new process incorporated this year. Earlier, the randomisation was done through computers, but now it will be left to the candidates to elect their board. The objective is fairness and transparency in the process by involving the candidates in it," said BPSC chairman Parmar Ravi Manubhai. The chairman said all the slips would be in a box and the candidates would pick any of them and scratch it to find the board they have to face. "That is how they also get involved in the process," he added. Meanwhile, a woman candidate's attempt to tamper with the roll number and admit card to get included in the document verification process for successful candidates called for interview was detected by BPSC. The tampering of documents was proved, the woman identified and removed from the process and action initiated to debar her. "This is a clear case of forgery and it has been detected, as BPSC is trying to usher in reforms and transparency in the interest of candidates," said chairman Manubhai. The commission has warned all the candidates to refrain from tampering of documents, attempt impersonation or resort to any kind of unfair means, as they will fall in the ambit of serious offence and invite strong legal action. The BPSC chief said the candidate was detected ahead of the commencement of the interview process a few days ago as she duplicated the roll number of a successful candidate, while the original successful candidate was also present. "Once she was quizzed, she said she had come with parents, but later none was there. Everything appeared fishy about her, as it was a surprise how two candidates with the same roll number emerged. The document verification of the genuine candidate was done," he added. The 70th BPSC Mains Examination result was published in December 2025 and 5,401 candidates had qualified for the final Personality Test/Interview round for around 2,000 vacancies. The preliminary exam conducted on December 13, 2024 was mired in controversy with allegations of paper leaks, widespread protests, demand for cancellation and subsequent legal challenges after chaos at the Bapu Pariksha Parisar centre in Patna. However, the BPSC chairman ruled out total cancellation, calling the allegations "false" and claiming the exam was conducted fairly at 911 out of 912 centres, baring one centre, Bapu Pariksha Parisar....