Panaji: Two days after announcing that all 8,000 candidates who had appeared for an examination for the post of accountant in the Goa government had failed, a senior official today said that the Accounts department would ask for a re-evaluation of the answer papers. Goa's director of accounts, Prakash Pereira, in a notification issued on August 21, had said none of the candidates, who appeared for the recruitment examination held on January 7 this year, secured the minimum qualifying marks of 50 out of 100.

The directorate of accounts had advertised 80 posts of accountant in the common account cadre in October last year. The five-hour examination included a 100 marks paper on English, general knowledge and Accounts. Pereira today said that he would submit a proposal to the state government to re-evaluate the papers of these candidates.

He said that he would also ask the government to upload the re-evaluated answer papers on the department's website. The official told reporters that the question paper for the examination was set by the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education based on the syllabus prescribed by the Accounts department.

Meanwhile, political parties hit out at the Goa government with the Congress stating that it was a "cruel joke" on the candidates while the Aam Aadmi Party termed it "examgate" having "touches" of the Vyapam scam in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh. The scam refers to alleged irregularities in exams conducted by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board, also known as Vyavasayik Pareeksha Mandal or Vyapam, for recruitment to professional courses and state services.

The Shiv Sena alleged that the issue "smacked of corruption and favouritism" and demanded a judicial inquiry. The Congress today also held a protest at the state Directorate of Accounts here and a party delegation met Pereira. Congress' North Goa block president Amarnath Panjikar said that failing all aspirants in an examination was a cruel joke on the candidates.

AAP Goa general secretary Pradeep Padgaonkar, in a press statement, alleged that Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had "crippled" recruitment and promotion processes at all levels. "This examgate has touches of Vyapam scam of Madhya
Pradesh and has become a national shame with all the leading edia covering it," Padgaonkar said. Shiv Sena's Goa vice president Rakhi Prabhudesai Naik said that it was wrong to curse the state's education system, against the backdrop of the exam results, claiming that the state had produced some of the best professionals in all streams including commerce.

Alleging corruption, Naik said, "An inquiry by a retired judge, preferably from the High Court, would bring outthe truth behind this mass failure."

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