The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday alleged that many of the “irregularities” in the conduct of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test – Undergraduate (NEET-UG) occurred in Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana, pointing to a “big scam” engineered by the States ruled by BJP or parties affiliated to it.
Demanding a Supreme Court-ordered probe into the matter, AAP spokesperson Jasmine Shah said reports of paper leaks emerged from Bihar and Gujarat, and that out of the 67 toppers of the exam, six were from a single centre in Haryana’s Jhajjar.
“The National Testing Agency (NTA) is silent over questions on the paper leak and its scope, which could be extensive,” he said at a press conference.
The results for the competitive medical exam were announced on Tuesday, but since then, several aspirants have cited “irregularities”, and are demanding a re-test due to alleged paper leaks, “hidden grace marks”, illogically high scores and an unexpected number of students who have scored 100%.
“In Gujarat, 11 competitive exam papers have been leaked in the last 11 years. In Uttar Pradesh, papers for police constable and teacher recruitment exams have been leaked, resulting in lakhs of youths facing an uncertain future. BJP wants to make India a Vishwaguru (world leader) but is unable to properly conduct an entrance exam,” he said.
The BJP’s Delhi unit hit out at Mr. Shah, saying it was “shameful” of the Delhi government to take credit for the success of students from Delhi who had cleared the exam while simultaneously accusing students belonging to Haryana, Bihar and Gujarat of “malpractice”.
“On Friday evening, Education Minister Atishi praised the examination system and claimed credit for the excellent performance of Delhi students. In stark contrast, Mr. Shah today is alleging a scam involving leaked NEET exam papers. This has exposed AAP’s double standards,” said Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor.
He also questioned why Ms. Atishi had claimed credit for the 100% success rate attained by the Capital’s six Specialised Excellence Schools while Mr. Shah was simultaneously raising questions on the six toppers from Haryana’s Jhajjar.
“It is regrettable that AAP leaders, who have consistently failed politically in Haryana, have now resorted to tarnishing the image of the coaching system in Jhajjar,” Mr. Kapoor said.
‘Set up panel’
The NTA, responding to allegations of inflated marks, said the Union Education Ministry has set up a four-member panel to review the grace marks awarded to more than 1,500 candidates.
It also denied any irregularities, and said changes made to NCERT textbooks and grace marks awarded due to a loss of time while conducting the exam were some of the reasons why some students scored higher marks.
