Chennai: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Sunday called for an independent inquiry into alleged irregularities in the recruitment of assistant professors for government arts and science colleges in Tamil Nadu and sought suspension of the selection process until the probe is completed.

In a statement, Palaniswami referred to reports alleging discrepancies in the examination conducted to fill 2,708 assistant professor vacancies.

He claimed that 106 candidates received only one mark in the descriptive section despite scoring high marks in the objective paper. At the same time, some candidates with lower objective scores were allegedly awarded significantly higher marks in the descriptive section, affecting the final merit list.

Alleging that the evaluation process lacked transparency, the AIADMK leader urged the state government to cancel the results and keep the recruitment process on hold until an independent inquiry into the alleged irregularities is completed.