On Tuesday, February 24, the streets of Dharwad were filled with hundreds of students and government job aspirants. Led by groups such as the All Karnataka State Students Association (AKSSA) and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), protesters blocked major roads, including Srinagar Circle and College Road, bringing traffic to a standstill for hours.
The unrest was triggered by a mounting recruitment crisis in Karnataka, where delays in filling vacant posts and rigid age limits have left lakhs of youth in limbo. AKSSA has now issued a one-week ultimatum to the state government to release a recruitment calendar for 56,000 posts, warning that the agitation could escalate into a padayatra (march) to Bengaluru.
Karnataka has witnessed repeated protests by government job aspirants over delays in recruitment, rising vacancies across departments, and concerns about age eligibility. Protesters said repeated postponements of examinations and selection processes have severely affected aspirants and their families.
The Dharwad protest was not an isolated event. It was the second major mobilisation in six months. A similar large-scale protest was held at Jubilee Circle in September 2025, where thousands demanded age-limit relaxation and immediate recruitment to long-pending posts.
The immediate trigger was the continued delay in issuing recruitment notifications. Protesters alleged that recruitment to government posts has remained frozen since November 2024, raising fears that many aspirants would cross the upper age limit before fresh applications are invited.
A day after leading the Dharwad protest, AKSSA gave the government an ultimatum to issue the recruitment calendar for 56,000 posts approved by the Finance Department within a week. The association warned that, failing this, thousands of aspirants would undertake a padayatra from Dharwad to Bengaluru.
AKSSA president Kanthkumar suggested that since the internal reservation matter is pending before the court, the government could file an interlocutory application and proceed to fill 94% of the vacant posts immediately, leaving 6% to be filled after the court’s decision.
Aspirants have also demanded a minimum five-year age relaxation, particularly for police constable and related posts, as many candidates have crossed the eligibility age due to prolonged delays.
Vacancies in Karnataka’s government departments have grown steadily over the past decade. Legislative data since 2015 shows that while an estimated 1.5 to 1.7 lakh posts were vacant then, the number has nearly doubled. In January this year, the state legislature was informed that 2.84 lakh posts remain vacant.
If vacancies in boards and corporations (1.01 lakh) and universities (14,677) are included, the total rises to nearly 4 lakh.
According to government data, the School Education and Literacy Department accounts for the highest number of vacancies, with 79,694 posts vacant — roughly 27% of the total. The Health and Medical Education Department has 37,572 vacancies, and the Home Department has 28,188.
Other departments with more than 10,000 vacant posts include Higher Education (13,599), Animal Husbandry (11,020), Revenue (10,867), and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (10,504). Several others, including Women and Child Development (9,646), Backward Classes Welfare (8,525), Forest (7,668), and Law (7,659), also report significant shortages.
The increase in vacancies is linked to multiple factors over the years.
After the first wave of COVID-19 in 2020, the then BJP government froze all direct recruitment, including backlog posts, for the 2020–21 fiscal year. With state finances strained post-pandemic, the government carried out limited recruitment before its tenure ended in 2023.
Under the current Congress government, the issue of internal reservation has led to further delays. In November 2024, the government constituted a one-man commission under Justice H N Nagamohan Das to recommend internal reservation for Scheduled Caste communities. Recruitment was frozen pending the commission’s report.
Although the commission submitted its report in August 2025, the Karnataka High Court stayed the internal reservation formula in October, prolonging uncertainty.
Filling 2.5 lakh vacant posts was one of the assurances made in the Congress manifesto ahead of the Assembly elections.
A major point of contention is the age limit for police constable recruitment. The current upper age limit is 25 years for general category candidates and 27 years for reserved categories.
Aspirants argue that Karnataka has one of the lowest age limits in the country. In many other states, general category candidates are allowed to apply up to 28 to 33 years, and SC/ST and OBC candidates up to 32 to 38 years.
Protests in Dharwad and a procession in Mysuru in September 2025 sought revised limits of 30 years for general candidates and 33 years for SC/ST candidates. Students said recruitment to constable and PSI posts has been on hold for four to five years, while FDA and SDA vacancies have remained unfilled for seven to eight years.
Last month, the state Cabinet decided to grant a five-year age relaxation for all government job aspirants across categories until December 2027. However, aspirants continue to seek clarity on its implementation and timelines.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has blamed the previous BJP government for the backlog, stating that when the Congress assumed office in 2023, over 2.64 lakh government posts were vacant. He alleged that irregularities and corruption between 2019 and 2023 disrupted recruitment and led to the buildup of vacancies.
He has promised that a notification for 56,000 new jobs would be issued shortly and said the government is committed to restoring credibility, transparency, and stability in recruitment.
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has assured a transparent and “scam-free” recruitment process and said a clear timeline is being drafted. He stated that the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) and other agencies have been tasked with recruitment responsibilities in sectors such as education and health.
The government has also cited procedural and legal hurdles, including the pending internal reservation matter, as reasons for the delay.
Meanwhile, the BJP and JD(S) have backed the protesting students and sharply criticised the Congress government.
Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that 2.94 lakh government posts remain vacant while seven lakh young people are unemployed and awaiting opportunities. He alleged that only Cabinet-rank positions were being filled.
Leader of Opposition R Ashok, MLA Arvind Bellad, and BJP state president BY Vijayendra have accused the government of failing to fulfil its promise of filling 2.86 lakh posts. Vijayendra claimed that while the Chief Minister had stated that 40,000 vacancies were filled, the government informed the Assembly that only 8,157 posts were filled in the last two years.
BJP MLA Arvind Bellad also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Governor of Karnataka, alleging a “growing governance and employment crisis”. In his letter, he said that although the Congress government had promised to fill 2.86 lakh vacant posts, fewer than 10,000 had been filled in nearly three years, with only 8,157 recruitments completed in the last two years.
He alleged that there is no transparent or time-bound recruitment roadmap in place, leading to widespread uncertainty among aspirants.
Opposition leaders have further alleged that financial strain from guarantee schemes has slowed recruitment and warned of statewide protests if vacancies are not filled.
AKSSA has warned of a padayatra from Dharwad to Bengaluru if the recruitment calendar is not issued within a week. Opposition parties have also indicated that they will raise the issue in the legislature and escalate protests across major centres.