HP CM Sukhu: New State Selection Commission, CBT Exams Live
Synopsis
Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu announced that Himachal Pradesh has established a new State Selection Commission and converted all government recruitment examinations to a computer-based format, aiming to speed up hiring and eliminate paper-leak risks.
Key Takeaways
New State Selection Commission created in Himachal Pradesh, separate from the existing Public Service Commission, to handle government recruitment.
All state government recruitment examinations have been shifted to a computer-based testing (CBT) format.
The announcement was made by Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on 25 September 2026 .
CBT is designed to reduce the risk of paper leaks and speed up result processing for job aspirants.
The move follows a national trend of Indian states building dedicated, digitised recruitment bodies to handle high-volume hiring.
Himachal Pradesh is overhauling how it fills government jobs — and Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu wants the public to know it. On Friday, 25 September 2026, the Chief Minister's Office of Himachal Pradesh posted on X, quoting CM Sukhu directly: 'हमने नया राज्य चयन आयोग बनाया है और परीक्षाएँ कंप्यूटर आधारित कर दी हैं' — 'We have created a new State Selection Commission and made the examinations computer-based.'
A new body, a new exam format
The announcement signals a structural break from the previous recruitment architecture in Himachal Pradesh. By establishing a dedicated State Selection Commission — separate from the existing Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission — the Sukhu government is carving out a focused body to handle the high-volume, high-stakes business of recruiting for Group B, C, and D posts. The shift to computer-based testing (CBT) is the other half of the equation: faster result processing, harder to leak, easier to audit. That combination matters. Himachal Pradesh, a hill state of roughly 7 million people administered from Shimla, has seen its share of paper-leak controversies that derailed recruitment cycles and left thousands of aspirants in limbo. CBT is the bluntest instrument available to close that window.The national playbook HP is now following
Himachal Pradesh is not alone on this path. Across India, states have progressively unbundled their recruitment machinery — creating dedicated commissions to handle the sheer scale of sub-UPSC hiring that traditional public service commissions were not designed to process at speed. Computer-based testing has already become standard in several states precisely because a digital paper trail makes manipulation exponentially harder and compresses the time between exam and result from months to weeks. For CM Sukhu, who has led the state since December 2022, the announcement is also a political signal: his Congress government is taking ownership of the credibility of public recruitment after years in which exam scandals damaged aspirant trust across multiple states.What job aspirants are watching next
The architecture is declared. The harder test comes next — when the first recruitment notifications land, when the first CBT cycles run, and whether the new commission's mandate holds up against any legal challenges to its jurisdiction. For the lakhs of young people in Himachal Pradesh who have been preparing for government posts, the machinery has changed. Whether it delivers faster, cleaner results is the only verdict that will count.Point of View
A theme with direct electoral salience among young, educated job-seekers in the hill state. The structural unbundling of recruitment from the traditional PSC also follows a broader federal trend: states are increasingly treating public hiring as a specialised administrative function requiring its own institutional bandwidth. The real test of this reform's credibility will arrive with the first notification and exam cycle under the new framework.
NationPress
25 Sept 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the new State Selection Commission in Himachal Pradesh?
It is a newly created body announced by Chief Minister Sukhu to manage government recruitment — specifically for Group B, C, and D posts — separately from the existing Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission.
What does computer-based testing mean for HP government exams?
Candidates will now take government recruitment exams on computers rather than on paper, which reduces the risk of question-paper leaks and speeds up result declaration.
Who announced the new Himachal Pradesh State Selection Commission?
Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu announced it on 25 September 2026 via the official Chief Minister's Office account on X.
Why are Indian states switching to CBT for government recruitment?
Computer-based testing creates a digital audit trail that makes paper leaks far harder to execute, compresses result timelines, and improves the overall credibility of public recruitment processes.
When did Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu become Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh?
Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu took office as Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh in December 2022, representing the Indian National Congress from the Nadaun constituency.
