UPSC Exam Centres List for Prelims and Mains

To find your nearest UPSC exam centre, look for your city, or the closest one to it, in the lists below. The CSE 2026 notice lists 83 centres for the preliminary exam and 27 for the main exam. The main exam is held in fewer cities, and every one of them is also a prelims centre. You choose both centres when you apply, so it pays to know the lists before the application window opens.

Both lists below are copied from the notice, in its order. The notice lists cities, not states, and prints a state beside only a few of them. The CSE 2027 notice, due on 13 January 2027 according to UPSC's calendar, will carry its own list, so check it when it comes out.

Prelims centres

The centres are cities. Your exact venue, the building where you sit the paper, is printed on your e-Admit Card.

Mains centres

The written part of the main exam is held in these cities. Dispur appears in this list as Dispur (Guwahati).

How UPSC allots centres

The notice sets out these rules:

• Most centres have a cap. There is a ceiling on the number of candidates at each centre, except Chennai, Dispur, Kolkata and Nagpur.
• First apply, first allot. Seats go to candidates in the order they apply. Once a centre is full, other applicants can no longer choose it and must pick one of the remaining centres. The notice advises applying early for this reason.
• Candidates with benchmark disabilities are not shut out. They can still choose a centre after it has reached its cap, and the notice says every centre will cater to them.
• No changes on request. The notice says no request for a change of centre will be entertained.
• UPSC can change centres. The centres, and the date of the exam, can be changed at the Commission's discretion.
• Only your own venue counts. If you appear at a venue other than the one on your e-Admit Card, you will not be allowed to take the exam.

Your mains centre is chosen up front

The notice asks for your main exam centre in the exam-specific part of the application, along with your optional subject and your medium of examination, and allows no change once that part is submitted. So you pick a mains centre in the same form as your prelims centre, months before you know whether you will clear the prelims. The application guide covers the rest of the form.

Choosing well

• Apply early if your city is popular. With most centres capped, a late application can mean a centre in another city.
• Pick a centre you can reach in good time. For the 2026 prelims, UPSC closed entry 30 minutes before each session and advised arriving an hour and a half early for face authentication and frisking.
• Think about the mains centre as well. You will travel to it for several days of papers, so weigh travel and a place to stay, not just distance.

Check the venue on your e-Admit Card as soon as you download it. If anything on it is wrong, tell UPSC at once; the notice and the exam-day rules explain how.