Lucknow, Oct 21 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh government late Sunday postponed the written exam scheduled for Oct 27 to recruit more than 41,000 police constables.

The decision was taken after the truck carrying the question papers met with a road accident and the papers got damaged, officials told IANS.

Police officials said fresh dates were being worked out and the exam is now likely to be held in the first week of December.

The exam for the post of 41,160 constables was being seen as a major employment drive by the Samajwadi Party government in the state.

The recruitment drive had elicited a huge response from the youth as 20.78 lakh people applied to take the exam.

Secretary of Police Recruitment and Promotion Board, Amitabh Yash, told IANS that fresh date for the written exam would be announced soon.

Officials said they also feared that the paper might get leaked after the accident. Hence, it was necessary to put off the exam.

Police recruitment during the previous tenure of the Samajwadi Party government under Mulayam Singh Yadav was shrouded with charges of corruption and nepotism.

Later when Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) came into power in Uttar Pradesh, it ordered a probe into the alleged irregularities and cases were slapped against many senior police officials.

According to sources, the state government did not want to take any chances this time and was taking all due precautions.