Thirty-two candidates have so far been disqualified in the Class 12 Board examination in West Bengal for entering the exam centre with mobile phones in violation of rules, an official said on Wednesday.

Four candidates were caught using mobile phones during exams on Wednesday and their candidature for the entire examination stand cancelled, President of West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education Chiranjib Bhattacharya said in a statement.

He said with this, 32 students have been found using mobile phones in the examination hall and all their papers have been cancelled.

While two candidates sneaked in smartphones to write Mathematics paper, the other two were slated to write history.

"The steps were adopted to prevent any malpractices, including taking images of the question papers and circulating those on social media…," he told PTI.

"We have zero tolerance for such acts. The ones disqualified cannot sit for exams for one year," Bhattacharya said.

To address concerns about test paper leaks, the council has introduced for the first time a unique serial number for each question paper, he said.

One person was arrested recently from Nadia district for "promising to share question papers in exchange for money", another council official said.

An estimated 7,89,867 students are appearing for this year’s Class-12 board examination from February 16-29.

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