To prevent irregularities, the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) has introduced new OMR sheet for the Group-1 examinations being held across the state on Sunday.

After inspecting an examination centre, TNPSC chairman K Balachandran told reporters that the new OMR sheets would help identify various problems and also possible irregularities.

He said there were 2.56 lakh applicants for the examinations and 1.61 lakh had downloaded the hall tickets till Friday evening.

The exams are being held at 856 centres in the state.

The Group-1 exams, scheduled to be held in April last year, was postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

As far as Coimbatore is concerned, there were 11,887 applicants, 42.97 per cent -- 5,109 were writing the exam and 6,779 failed to attend, Balachandran said.

All the pandemic restrictions such as temperature checking, washing hands with sanitisers and wearing face masks were adhered to, he said in the presence of the district Collector K Rajamani.

In Nilgiris district, 388 applicants out of 1,016 appeared in three centres in the district, its Collector Innocent Divya said.