When the results of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Examination 2025 were announced, thousands of aspirants across India celebrated their success. But among the many stories of achievement, one unusual confusion quickly caught public attention.
Two individuals with the same name — Fairuz Fathima — appeared to be claiming the same rank: All India Rank (AIR) 708.
Social media posts began circulating, congratulatory messages spread rapidly, and some regional news reports even carried both claims. This raised an obvious question: How could two people have the same rank in one of India’s most carefully administered examinations?
The answer lies in the official UPSC result data.
Official result:
https://upsc.gov.in/sites/default/files/CSE_2025_FR_Eng_06032026.pdf
The Official UPSC Result
The final result released by the Union Public Service Commission lists all successful candidates along with their rank, roll number, and registered name.
According to the official UPSC result document:
- Rank: AIR 708
- Roll Number: 2402117
- Name: Fairuz Fathima M
Only one candidate appears at Rank 708 in the official list, and the name recorded is Fairuz Fathima M.
Since UPSC assigns unique ranks and roll numbers, it is not possible for two different candidates to share the same rank in the final result.
Based on the official UPSC data, Fairuz Fathima from Kerala is the real AIR 708 rank holder.
Evidence from Prelims and Mains Lists
Additional confirmation also comes from the name-wise lists of candidates who qualified the Preliminary and Main examinations.
UPSC publishes separate name-wise lists for candidates who qualify the Preliminary stage and the Main examination before the final result.
If two different candidates with the same name had progressed through the examination process, both names would appear in these official lists. However, the official name-wise lists show only one candidate named Fairuz Fathima at every stage of the examination.
Official documents:
Prelims Result:
https://upsconline.gov.in/CSP-2025-WR-NameList-Engl-110625.pdf
This confirms that only one candidate named Fairuz Fathima, progressed through the entire UPSC Civil Services Examination process in 2025.
The Source of the Confusion
The confusion began soon after the results were declared. Another individual from Uttarakhand publicly claimed that she had secured AIR 708.
This claim began circulating widely on social media and was amplified through certain local reports, leading many people to believe that she had cleared the examination with that rank.
However, when the official UPSC result list was examined, it became clear that only one candidate named Fairuz Fathima appears at Rank 708 — the candidate from Kerala.
The claim made by the individual from Uttarakhand directly contradicts the official UPSC records.
Because of this clear contradiction with the official result, the Uttarakhand claim has been widely criticised and described as a fraudulent misrepresentation of a UPSC rank.
Why UPSC Results Cannot Have Duplicate Ranks
The UPSC Civil Services Examination is one of the most competitive and strictly regulated examinations in India.
Each candidate is identified through:
- A unique roll number
- Their registered name
- A single assigned rank
Because of this system, two different candidates cannot legally share the same rank in the final result list.
This makes it straightforward to verify whether a claim about a UPSC rank is genuine.
The Importance of Verifying Official Data
Situations like this show how quickly misinformation can spread on social media, particularly when results from prestigious examinations are announced.
The most reliable way to verify any UPSC result is to check:
- The official result PDF released by UPSC
- The candidate’s roll number
- The exact name appearing in the result list
In this case, the official document clearly confirms that the candidate named Fairuz Fathima from Kerala secured AIR 708.
Any other claim to that rank is inconsistent with the official UPSC data.
Conclusion
The controversy surrounding two individuals claiming the same UPSC rank highlights how quickly misinformation can spread in the digital age, especially when the results of prestigious examinations are announced.
However, the facts become clear when the official UPSC documents are examined carefully. The name-wise lists of candidates who qualified the Preliminary examination, the Main examination, and the final result all show only one candidate named Fairuz Fathima.
The final result confirms that Fairuz Fathima from Kerala secured All India Rank 708 in the UPSC Civil Services Examination 2025.
Since the official records contain only one candidate with this name, the claim made by the individual from Uttarakhand contradicts the official UPSC data and therefore constitutes a fraudulent claim.
This case highlights the importance of relying on verified official documents rather than unverified claims circulating online, especially when dealing with highly competitive national examinations such as the UPSC Civil Services Examination.