Neighbouring Pakistan, which has been weaved into the election rhetoric in poll-bound Gujarat, has found a place in the civil service examinations in BJP-ruled Arunachal Pradesh.

Candidates appearing for the combined competitive preliminary exams conducted by the Arunachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) last month found out that more than half the questions were copied from www.cssforum.com.pk, a resource website for civil services examinations in Pakistan, according to a Hindustan Times report.

The candidates appearing for the exam have reportedly written to APPSC secretary Onit Payeng for checking the faulty question papers. The committee is likely to reconduct the preliminary exam within three months.

Some questions were also lifted from the 2008 Union Public Service Commission exams but without proper options to choose from, report said.

“In sociology, for instance, 90 per cent of the questions were allegedly taken from an online discussion forum. The veterinary paper too had 60 questions taken from an online question bank Vetscan,” the report read.

“Some of the questions in general studies, sociology and political science were in the context of a foreign country. We cross-checked and found they were straight out of the Pakistani resource site,” Tapi Omo, a candidate was quoted by the daily.

“As most of the question papers of the examination were photocopied and some were also tampered with, we cannot deny the possibility of a leak. Moreover, too much copy-pasting has been done while setting the papers, which is illegal,” Nani Bath, member of a steering committee formed to demand a re-examination of the prelims, told HT.

Bath, a professor at Rajiv Gandhi University near the state capital of Itanagar, said the committee on Monday set a deadline for APPSC to re-conduct the preliminary exams within three months.

Social activist Patey Tayum told HT that making errors had become a habit for APPSC, and the state government needed to take a firm stand on the fiasco that could destroy the career of many young people.