NEET UG 2024 | Students, parents allege irregularities, demand re-exam

There has been a hue and cry by medical aspirants and their parents about several alleged irregularities in the conduct of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) 2024 (NEET UG), demanding that the exam be held again.

There have been allegations of exam paper leaks, last-minute awarding of grace marks to some students for lost time, errors in the results, and questions about the marking system. People have also questioned the decision to announce the results 10 days before the scheduled date.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) that administers the pre-medical entrance examination announced the NEET UG results for over 2.4 million students on Tuesday (June 4). A total of 67 students achieved the All India Rank (AIR) 1, with the highest score of 99.99 per cent.

67 toppers this year

A person with the handle “Indian Doctor” had this poser on X, “Previous year only 2 candidates scored 720/720 & this time 67 toppers & allegedly max from same centres. Is this true? Kindly give clarification! @NTA_Exams @PMO INDIA #NEETfraud.”

8 toppers from same centre

Another X user Dr Shreeram Bishnoi highlighted the fact that 8 candidates with the same sequence of roll numbers topped from one particular centre.

He wrote, “One more Suspicious irregularity coming out. 8 candidates with same sequence roll number starting with 2307010168, 333, 403, 460, 178, 037, 186, 198. How is it possible from 25 Lakh students, 8 students topped from same centre? #NEET #NEETfraud #NEET_paper.”

Allegations of exam paper leak

A group of parents, alleging that the exam paper was leaked or there was mass copying in some centres, began an online campaign demanding a re-examination for NEET UG 2024. They also expressed apprehensions about private coaching institutes being involved in paper leak incidents.

Their allegation gained credibility by the arrest of 13 people by the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of the Bihar Police in connection with paper leaks. After the arrests, the NTA held a re-exam for candidates who received different question papers at a Rajasthan exam centre.

In Gujarat, a criminal case was filed against three persons in Godhra district, including a school teacher who allegedly helped 6 candidates solve the NEET question paper for a payment of ₹10 lakhs from each candidate. The police recovered ₹7 lakhs that was paid to the teacher in advance by one of the candidates.

There were reports of irregularities in Odisha as well.

Viral video about paper leak

A few days before the NEET exam was conducted, a video of a masked man alleging that the mastermind behind the exam paper leak of the Bihar Public Service Commission TRE 3 may have also leaked the NEET UG paper went viral on social media.

The NTA’s response was to call this “baseless allegations”.

Questions about NTA’s marking system

A NEET educator posted a video challenging the NTA’s marking system and demanded that the testing agency make the formula public.

Raising doubts about the marking system, another person posted on X, “Given the NEET marking scheme, where each correct answer scores +4 marks and each incorrect answer scores -5 marks. Given the constraints of the scoring system and the total number of questions, achieving scores of 719 or 718 in NEET is not possible.”

Awarding of grace marks ‘unfair’

Some students and parents have argued that the last-minute awarding of grace marks to certain candidates is “unfair”.

The NTA issued a statement explaining how some students scored 718 and 719 marks out of 720.

“The loss of examination time was ascertained, and such candidates were compensated with grace marks. So, candidates’ marks can be 718 or 719 also,” the testing agency wrote in a post on X.

The agency also clarified that the decision to award grace marks was in compliance with a court order to compensate for the loss of exam time.

The agency has been asked to release the Supreme Court order dated June 13, 2018 which was the basis for awarding grace marks.