Candidates who have opted Imphal centre in Manipur to appear in this year's civil services preliminary examination, can choose other venues, the Union Public Service Commission has said.

The civil services examination is conducted annually by the UPSC in three stages -- preliminary, main and interview -- to select officers for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.

The civil services preliminary examination, 2024, is scheduled to be held on June 16.

In a statement, the UPSC said it has decided that candidates who have opted for Imphal centre, "can choose any of the 80 notified centres of the said examination". The move comes following a directive from the Delhi High Court in this regard on a petition filed by the Zomi Students Federation.

The option of change of centre for candidates who chose Imphal will be available on the website of the UPSC from April 8 to April 19, the commission said, adding the candidates may also submit their request by calling toll-free helpline number (1800118711) on all working days from April 8 to 19 between 10 am and 5 pm.

The candidates can also send their centre change representations at e-mail id: uscsp-upsc@nic.in.

"On receipt of centre change options from the willing candidates through any of the above modes, they will be allocated to the venues of their chosen centres and accordingly, a message confirming the change of centres shall be sent to each such candidate on his/her registered mobile number," it added.

The e-admit cards to these candidates will be available for downloading from the UPSC's website along with other eligible candidates of the civil services preliminary examination, 2024, around a week before the date of examination, the UPSC added.

At least 219 people have been killed in ethnic strife in Manipur since May last year. The violence erupted on May 3 after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.