It has been ten days since the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) results were declared, sparking widespread public outcry with lakhs of students alleging fraud and demanding a re-examination. Over 2.3 million students had appeared for the NEET exam held on May 5. The results were supposed to be declared on June 15, but the National Testing Agency (NTA) declared them ten days earlier, along with the results of the Lok Sabha elections. Amidst the protests, the case has now reached the Supreme Court of India.
What are the allegations?
Every year, one or two students score full marks in the NEET. This time around, 67 students scored full marks, causing an exponential 3,250% increase in the number of toppers. Out of these 67 toppers, six are from a single centre in Haryana – a statistical anomaly that experts find extraordinarily unlikely. More curiously, none of these students have declared their surname, making the probability even slimmer. NTA says these students got grace marks because of “loss of time”. However, the principal of the school where the exam took place has refuted this claim, stating there was no time lag.
Some students even scored 718 and 719 marks, scores that are mathematically impossible to achieve in NEET. The total score for NEET is 720. Every question carries four marks, and there’s one negative mark for every wrong answer. So, the maximum score a student can get after the full score is 716 if they leave one question and 715 if only one question is marked incorrect.
The NTA says students were given grace marks because of “loss of time”, Raising doubts on the methodology for calculating this time loss, Dhruv, a NEET aspirant from Delhi, said, “There are roughly 4,750 centres across the country. Let’s assume there are ten classes in each centre. That means to properly calculate the loss of time accurately, NTA had to review the three-hour CCTV footage of all these 47,500 classrooms, assuming that every class had a functional CCTV.”
Whistleblower and education activist Dr Vivek Pandey told The Wire that in the last five years, NTA had only 426 employees and has been conducting 42 exams, making the review of all the CCTVs a mammoth task in terms of manpower. Students also pointed to the case of a Savai Madhopur centre where Hindi-medium students were given an English paper, and asked why they were not given the benefit of time loss.
The biggest issue is that this year’s unusual spike in the number of students with such high scores has inflated ranks, jeopardising the chances for thousands of meritorious students. There are allegations of a paper leak, widespread cheating and candidate impersonation. Donny Thomas, a doctor from Kerala whose sister has secured 618 marks in NEET, said, “The hyperinflation of the ranks is being justified due to better facilities, but any sensible person will tell you it’s not right. What major change has happened in a year for such a sharp change in ranks?”
The NTA has rejected all these accusations since day one but informed the Supreme Court last week that it would cancel the grace marks given to 1,563 students. Those students now have two options: to accept their score without grace marks or to appear for a retest. Many students and experts told The Wire that the hyperfocus on just grace marks is an eyewash.
“Not all of these 1,563 students are toppers. The extreme hyperinflation in ranks cannot be caused only by a few students getting grace marks,” Pandey said. While the NTA and Ministry of Human Resource Development have accepted instances of cheating, they reject the possibility of a paper leak and say that most of the claims are aimed at creating a fake narrative.
Accusing the Congress party of politicising the issue, Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union human resource development minister, claimed that no concrete evidence of any rigging, corruption or paper leak has been found so far in the NEET exam. Many students and observers we spoke to disagree with this view. Pushpendra, a NEET aspirant from Lucknow said, “On one hand, they are saying that there’s no leak, and on the other hand, they’re claiming that they are investigating the allegations and the guilty won’t be spared. How can they do this? If they’re so sure that there’s no leak then why are they even investigating it?”
“In physics, we study the dual nature of light. Here, we are studying the dual nature of NTA. They have no proper clarification for anything and they keep contradicting their own stand,” said NEET aspirant Surabhi.
Meanwhile, the Congress party said that only a detailed probe under the supervision of the Supreme Court could protect the future of lakhs of young students. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that the Modi-led government has started “covering up the NEET scam” through Pradhan and the NTA.
“If the paper was not leaked in NEET, then why were 13 accused arrested in Bihar due to a paper leak? Did the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of Patna police not expose the payment of ₹30 lakh to ₹50 lakh to the education mafia and organised gangs involved in the racket in exchange for papers?” Kharge asked in a post on X.
“Has the NEET-UG cheating racket not been busted in Godhra, Gujarat? In which three people are involved, including a person running a coaching centre, a teacher, and another person? According to Gujarat Police, transactions of more than ₹12 crore have come to light between the accused?” the Congress chief added.
In an interview with the Indian Express, Additional Director General of Police, Economic Offences Unit, Bihar N.H. Khan said, “We had asked a set of questions to the National Testing Agency, which organises NEET. Our team has just received answers. We may have some follow-up questions. We have been working on some contacts we have received in the course of our investigation, which is very much suggestive of a paper leak.”
Pandey said that he had suspected a leak even before the exam and had warned the authorities. Bihar police had replied to his tweet on May 2, three days before the exam.
Even as the Union government and the NTA repeatedly claim that there is no foul play, new accusations continue to pile up daily. Students have found support from influencers, opposition leaders and even the mainstream television media.
