UPSC Reserve List: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts Civil Services Examination (CSE) every year to recruit candidates for various Group A and B Central services like IAS, IPS, IFS, among others. The UPSC releases the final list of selected candidates after all the stages of the exam have been completed. The final list consists of the names of the candidates recommended to be appointed for the Central Services. In addition to this list, the Commission also maintains a consolidated list of candidates known as the Reserve List. This list is maintained by the UPSC in accordance with the Rule 20(4) & 20(5) of the Civil Services Examination Rules, 2024.
The UPSC has released the result for UPSC CSE 2024 on April 22, 2025. It has recommended a total of 1009 candidates for appointment in the All India and Central Services against 1129 vacancies.
What is the UPSC Reserve List?
The UPSC Reserve List is a supplementary list of candidates maintained by the Commission along with the main list of recommended candidates for appointment. This list is maintained as a necessary rule under the Rule 20(4) & 20(5) of the Civil Services Examination Rules, 2024. The inputs from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) helps the Commission to maintain this list.
Why does UPSC maintain a Reserve List?
The purpose is multi-fold and largely due to the structure of multi-service selection combined with reservation rules. Key reasons:
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To Fill the Gaps due to Candidates Choices of Reservation: Some candidates appear for the exam from the general category despite belonging to a reserved category. Later, they sometimes choose to avail their reserved quota which creates vacancy in the general/unreserved category seats. To gill these seats, UPSC requires a reserve list.
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To ensure all available vacancies are filled: When the final result is released, there is a possibility that the number of recommended candidates is lesser than the total number of vacancies. Then the Reserve List plays an important role to fill these unfilled posts.
How the UPSC Reserve List Works
When the UPSC releases the final result for the Civil Services examination, a recommended list of candidates is released alongside to fill the vacancies announced in that year. Further process of Reserve List is mentioned here:
Step 1: Main result recommendation
The UPSC declares the result after the completion of the selection process i.e., after all the stages of the examination have been conducted successfully. UPSC releases the list of candidates which are recommended for appointment.
Step 2: Identification of reserve list candidates
The Reserve List of candidates consists of the candidates who are below the last recommended candidate in the final list and this list is maintained from all the categories of candidates.
Step 3: Confidential holding & category movement
The confidentiality of the Reserve List is maintained by the Commission in all respects. The confidentiality is maintained until the service-allocation is completed for the main list.
Step 4: Release of reserved list & recommending additional candidates
If any seat remains vacant after the allocation process is completed then UPSC releases the Reserve List of candidates that can be appointed to fill the vacant seats.
How to Check Your Name in the UPSC Reserve List
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Visit the UPSC official website: upsc.gov.in.
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On the homepage, in the What’s New section, click on the “Reserve List: Civil Services (Main) Examination 2024".
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You will be redirected to the page containing the download link for the Reserve List.
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Download the PDF of the reserve list and check your roll number/name under the appropriate category.
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