NEET: Demanding re-exam, Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha hands memorandum to dist admin

Lucknow: A day after members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the National Students Union of India (NSUI) staged separate protests over anomalies in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2024 around the Lucknow University (LU) campus on Monday, members of the Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha on Tuesday submitted a memorandum at the district magistrate’s office. The memorandum, addressed to the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, demanded a thorough investigation into the alleged NEET paper leak and examination rigging.

The Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha demanded that the examination be conducted again. The student wing of the Samajwadi Party claimed that as many as 67 candidates scored 100% marks in the NEET examination, indicating that the paper was leaked and available on various social media platforms.

Among these, many candidates from the same examination center scored 100% marks simultaneously, indicating significant rigging. “Under BJP rule, examinations are becoming a business, with illegal leaking of question papers, printing papers from fake sources, setting examination centers, and managing results,” they alleged.

They requested the President to take cognizance of this matter to eliminate any possibility of such recurrence in future, said national vice president of Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha, Mahendra Kumar Yadav.

NEET aspirant moves to court demanding re-evaluation of OMR

Ayushi Patel, a NEET-2024 aspirant, has moved the court, demanding her answer (OMR) sheet be checked manually as her result for the NEET exam could not be generated.

She made a video claiming her result was withheld because her OMR sheet was torn, but based on the answer key, her score should be 715. The video went viral, prompting Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi to raise the issue on X.

In response, the NTA stated that no OMR sheet was torn and clarified that no such claim was made via an official NTA ID. The OMR answer sheet is intact, and the scores are accurate as per official records. The NTA advised candidates to download their scorecards only from the official website.

“The National Testing Agency (NTA) added grace marks for about 1,600 candidates, which has disrupted the entire ranking tally. Many students who scored well are now deprived of a chance to get admission to the college of their choice,” said Punya Tripathi, the elder sister of a candidate and a lawyer.

Successful candidates against NEET re-exam

Candidates who successfully qualified NEET 2024 are not in favour of a re-examination. They want the NTA to clear all uncertainties and doubts surrounding the issue. However, they advocate for the re-evaluation of answer sheets but are against conducting the examination afresh, as it would delay the academic session. Candidates want the Supreme Court to address the issue promptly.

Ayush Naugraiya, who scored a perfect 720 (99.997 percentile) out of 720 and became one of the all-India toppers of NEET 2024, said, “I’m open to the idea of fresh re-evaluation of OMR sheets. I am sure that I would still be among the top scorers and it will not impact my ranking. But under no circumstances should there be a re-exam because it will delay the session.”

This year, 67 candidates achieved a perfect score in NEET 2024, and Lucknow’s Ayush Naugraiya was one of them. Akriti Singh of Lucknow’s City Montessori School, who scored 701 out of 720 and secured a rank of 1597, said, “There should be a re-evaluation of those students who were awarded grace marks by NTA or, at the most, a re-evaluation should be done in suspected cases. We are not in favour of a re-exam.”

Aaryan Singh, who scored 667 marks and secured a rank of 16,310, said, “It is a case of large-scale paper leak otherwise, how come 67 students get 720 out of 720? I want NTA to go for a fresh evaluation. A CBI inquiry is a must,” he said.