Four hundred and twenty five candidates managed to clear first hurdle of completing the 1,600 metre race within stipulated time in the recruitment rally of 108 Territorial Army (TA) at Mahendra Ground in Garhi cantonment area on Sunday.
In the rally about 5,500 candidates participated. The Commanding Officer and in-charge of recruitment rally, Colonel K Jaichandran said that the physical ability test of the selected candidates will be held on Monday.
He said that the candidates from the States of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha participated in the rally.
Two thousand five hundred candidates from UP participated in the rally while the participation from Uttarakhand was 1,800.
Unlike the normal Army recruitment process, there is no written examination in the TA and the candidates are selected on the basis of performance in race and physical tests. The job of a soldier in TA is not permanent and the candidate works for a period of two months only in a year.
The recruitment site wore a festive look on the day as large number of candidates from seven states descended here. Braving chilling wind and rain some candidates even slept in the open in the ground in the previous night.