The Congress on Friday demanded a high-level probe under the Supreme Court’s supervision into “irregularities” in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for medical courses and accused the BJP of cheating youth and playing with their future.
Party president Mallikarjun Kharge said paper leaks, rigging and corruption had become an integral part of many examinations, including NEET. “The Modi government is directly responsible for this. For the candidates appearing in recruitment exams, then facing several irregularities, getting caught in the labyrinth of paper leaks, is playing with their futures. The BJP has cheated the youth of the country,” Mr. Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.
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“We demand that a high-level investigation should be conducted under the supervision of the Supreme Court so that our talented students appearing in NEET and other exams get justice,” the Congress chief added.
‘Completely unacceptable’
Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh alleged that the said “scam” that jeopardises the future of lakhs of candidates is “completely unacceptable and unforgivable”.
“This year, there was news of a paper leak in it that was suppressed. Now, many candidates have alleged that the marks of the students have been increased. Students say that this time a record 67 candidates have secured the top rank and six of these candidates are said to be from the same examination centre,” Mr. Ramesh said on X.
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He also questioned the results for the medical entrance exam for undergraduate students that came out on Tuesday.
“The question is how did the students get cheated, who did it and why was this result deliberately declared on June 4 amid the noise of election results, whereas it was to be declared on 14 June? Several questions are being raised on the results of NEET — How did 67 toppers simultaneously get 720/720 marks? How did eight students from the same centre get 720/720 marks? Every question was worth four marks, then how did the numbers 718-719 come? 67 students getting 720 out of 720 marks in the results released after the NEET question paper was leaked raises serious suspicion,” Mr. Ramesh said.
NTA clarification
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has denied any irregularities and said the changes made in National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks and grace marks for losing time at examination centres were behind the students scoring higher marks.
Mr. Ramesh, however, said the clarification came after the uproar and had been termed “superficial” and “unreliable” by the students.
His party colleague, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also slammed the Narendra Modi government over the alleged irregularities and called for a resolution of the students’ “legitimate complaints” through an investigation.
“First the NEET exam paper was leaked and now the students allege that there has been a scam in its results as well. Serious questions are being raised on six students of the same centre getting 720 out of 720 marks and many kinds of irregularities are coming to the fore. Why is the government ignoring the voice of lakhs of students? Students want answers to legitimate questions related to the rigging in the NEET exam results,” Ms. Vadra said on X.
