As many as 69,492 candidates took the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission - Group IV examination in the district on Sunday.
Officials said nearly 19 per cent of the 85,641 candidates, who had applied for the examination from the district, did not turn up. Elaborate arrangements had been made by the district administration for the State-wide examination.
Three hundred centres were set up in the district, predominantly in schools and colleges where uninterrupted power supply was provided.
More than 1,000 candidates took the examination in the four main centres — OCPM Girls Higher Secondary School, Velammal Matriculation School, Sairam Matriculation Higher Secondary School and Mangayarkarasi Higher Secondary School.
Fifty nine squads were formed to transport question and answer sheets to and from the examination centres. Twenty seven flying squads with officials in the rank of Deputy Collectors were formed to check malpractices in the centres.
All the candidates were frisked by men and women police personnel to ensure that they did not carry prohibited material, particularly electronic gadgets, inside the examination hall.
Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao and TNPSC member S. Muthuraj inspected four centres in the district in the morning.
