Tainted lists, protests, SC ruling: How Bengal’s SSC row has become a political flashpoint

The flurry of legal battles and protests surrounding the School Service Commission (SSC)’s teacher recruitment process has become a politically charged issue for the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), just months before West Bengal’s Assembly Elections.

With the recruitment process once again facing legal scrutiny, its future remains uncertain, stoking growing discontent among educated youth and job aspirants, a key voter segment in West Bengal.

On Thursday (November 27), the SSC published a 54-page list naming 1,806 “tainted candidates” from the 2016 State Level Selection Test (SLST). The list included their names, percentages, subjects, roll numbers, and dates of birth, as ordered by the Calcutta High Court.

Supreme Court's order

The move follows the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that invalidated over 25,000 appointments, declaring the entire recruitment process “tainted and vitiated,” forcing the council to conduct fresh recruitment — the 2025 SLST examination — for classes 9 and 10.

The results of the latest examination were made public only a few days ago, and interviews were scheduled to begin on Wednesday (November 26).

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However, the process quickly faced fresh judicial scrutiny after the Court expressed strong concerns about the SSC’s handling of the recruitment exercise.

During the hearing on November 26, the apex court observed that the 2016 recruitment should have been concluded strictly in accordance with the rules and the candidate pool applicable at that time. Instead, the commission had complicated matters by adding new vacancies and bringing in revised regulations mid-process.

Transparency in selection process

The court made it clear that both the SSC and the state government bore responsibility for the ongoing legal entanglements. Observing that their unreasonable decisions have prolonged the ordeal and unfairly delayed opportunities for deserving candidates, the SC referred several key matters back to the special bench of the Calcutta High Court for further adjudication.

The court’s firm criticism of the accommodation of ‘tainted’ candidates and the use of expired recruitment panels has cast fresh uncertainty over the prospects of thousands of candidates.

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In the wake of this development, eligible applicants are once again fearing the possible cancellation of the recruitment panel, a scenario that could prove politically damaging for the TMC ahead of the 2026 elections.

The court’s repeated doubts about the transparency of the selection process, and its caution that such lapses could trigger another scam, have only intensified the anxiety.

Candidates on the brink

“People are on the verge of losing their minds. And here they are doing politics? The state government, the judiciary, and the SSC, none of them is thinking about us. Where are we supposed to go?” asked Amitranjan Bhuiya, a qualified teacher who lost his job.

“Teacher aspirants and their families form a significant and vocal section of urban and semi-urban voters. The perception that the recruitment process is biased, opaque, or prone to repeated cancellations could foster resentment against the state government,” said Debashis Chakrabarti, a political commentator and Commonwealth Fellow.

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“For TMC, which has traditionally relied on a broad coalition of rural and urban voters, losing support among educated youth could be electorally costly,” he added.

Centre of political debate

Alleged irregularities in teachers' recruitment would be one of the key issues to be highlighted in the upcoming “Bangla Bachao Yatra”, the CPI(M) is embarking across the state from November 29, said the party's state secretary, Mohammed Salim.

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Earlier, fresh protests erupted last week over allegations that some of the “tainted” candidates from the 2016 list have again been shortlisted for interviews in the fresh recruitment exercise. The protesters further claimed that the 10 “experience” grace marks awarded to previously appointed teachers, whose panels had been cancelled by the court, were applied in a biased manner.

Candidates protest

The protesting candidates demanded scrapping of the grace‑mark scheme, the public release of all OMR answer sheets, and the creation of 1 one lakh additional teaching positions. The state government, however, dismissed the allegations.

Asserting that every rule and guideline had been strictly followed and that no “tainted” candidate featured on the aspirants’ list, Education Minister Bratya Basu expressed confidence that the recruitment process would be concluded by December 31.

Successfully completing the recruitment would be a major achievement for the TMC government, while any lapse or delay could prove politically damaging ahead of the elections.