The covered names

An original account of an invented bursary meeting.

Before the panel arrived, I placed six applications on the table. Each applicant's name had been covered and replaced by a letter. One panel member, Priya, knew that her cousin had applied, so she asked another person to check that nothing on the forms revealed anyone's identity.

The panel considered every application using the same three questions. Members recorded their scores separately before discussing them, and no one was allowed to guess who had written a form. When the names were uncovered at the end, the successful applicant was someone none of the panel had met. The secretary said that the careful process had produced an impartial decision.

In this passage, what does “impartial” mean?