Guwahati, Jan 24 (PTI) The Assam Police has deferred written examination for over 9,000 constable posts, first advertised nearly four years ago, as the number of candidates called for the test had fallen below the ratio of 1:5 against each post, an official statement said. The written examination was scheduled for January 30, which has now been postponed until further notice, it added. The State Level Police Recruitment Board (SLPRB), headed by the Director General of Police, is conducting the recruitment process. A press statement issued by the Assam Police said the results declared for the 9,171 posts of constable were reviewed by the SLPRB and it was found that the “actual number of people called for the written exam has fallen much below the ratio of 1:5 as announced in the original advertisement”. It said many candidates had cleared the cut off in more than one category of posts, indicating that it was the reason for the ratio falling below the announced ratio. “The SLPRB has reviewed the matter and decided to call an additional number of candidates for the written exam at the ratio 1:5,” the statement said. It added that a new merit list will be declared shortly. The first advertisement for the posts had appeared on April 25, 2018, with an addendum on December 19, 2019, and advertisements again appearing on various dates later also. The SLPRB on January 19 this year issued a notice announcing the results of Physical Standard Test (PST) and Physical Efficiency Test (PET) and asked the candidates to check their status on the website and asked the qualified candidates to apply online for the Common Written Test by January 30 on their website. Following the announcement of the qualifying list, a group of youths who failed to make the cut had staged a protest in front of the police force’s headquarter here on January 21, alleging that the system was not transparent. They had also alleged that only two candidates have been allowed against one post for the written test, while the norm is to call five candidates for one post. DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta had claimed that the entire PST and PET was conducted in a very "clear and transparent" manner. Regarding calling candidates five times of the posts, Mahanta said they followed the practice by inviting candidates from different categories like General, OBC, SC, ST, former militants and special police officers. “The total number of candidates may not look like five times due to many reasons like many cleared the cut-off in both armed and unarmed stream, many reserved category applicants got more marks than unreserved (UR) category and got absorbed in UR category and lack of sufficient number of qualifiers in some categories,” he added. A total of 1,80,622 candidates had applied for 9,171 posts of various types of constables such as armed, unarmed, home guards, former militants, radio communications and fire and emergency services. PTI SSG RG RG