In all, more than 1.86 lakh aspirants thronged the city to take the test for 461 posts today, with more than 74,000 losing the precious chance. Chaos was witnessed at entry points to the city on the Kurali-Kharar road, Landran-Mohali road and the Panchkula-Chandigarh road.

Dr PK Sharma of Panjab University (PU), in charge for conducting the examination, said: “We received numerous complaints about students getting delayed for the examination. However, we could not make any concessions beyond a certain time limit. Only about 60 per cent aspirants took the examination in two shifts today.” Simran Kaur, a candidate from Amritsar, said, “We were surprised to see long queues of vehicles at the entry point to Chandigarh. The duration of traffic lights could have been altered seeing the volume of traffic. We had started well in time from our village, yet I missed my examination.”

Navdeep Singh, a Barnala resident, said, “I fail to under stand why the examination centres were set up in Chandigarh alone.”