PRAYAGRAJ, Oct. 1 -- The Tier-I examination of the Staff Selection Commission's (SSC) Combined Graduate Level (CGL)-2026 began on Wednesday, with 11,593 of the 29,609 registered candidates appearing on the first day across 36 centres in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The examination is overseen by the Prayagraj-headquartered SSC Central Region. Ashish Kumar Srivastava, regional director of the SSC Central Region, stated that the overall attendance for the first day was 39.15%. In Uttar Pradesh, 7,597 of the 20,003 registered candidates appeared (37.98%), while Bihar saw 3,996 of 9,606 candidates (41.60%) turn up for the test. Prayagraj recorded the highest attendance among major centres in Uttar Pradesh, with 50.68% (1,481 of 2,922 candidates) appearing, while Noida saw the lowest at 30.30% (1,917 of 6,327 candidates). The computer-based examination is being conducted in three shifts-10 am to 11 am, 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm, and 5 pm to 6 pm-through October 30. Among other centres in Uttar Pradesh, attendance figures were: Agra, 39.85% (964 of 2,419); Bareilly, 33.66% (578 of 1,717); Lucknow, 39.09% (344 of 880); Gorakhpur, 41.16% (370 of 899); Jhansi, 40.80% (355 of 870); Kanpur, 40.09% (647 of 1,614); Meerut, 40.30% (818 of 2,030); and Varanasi, 37.85%. In Bihar, Bhagalpur recorded 44.17% attendance (882 of 1,997 candidates), followed by Patna at 43.03% (2,745 of 6,379 candidates)....