Controversy surrounds NEET 2024 results, demand for re-exam

The National Eligibility-cumEntrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET-UG 2024 results, declared on June 4, have sparked controversy and confusion among students and stakeholders due to various irregularities noted in the merit list, toppers and marks system.

One of the major issues is 67 candidates securing the all-India rank (AIR) 1, with eight reportedly from the same centre. A student from Rajasthan, preferring to stay anonymous, said, "With 640 marks, I am at the 35,000 rank and it won’t be possible to get into a good college. Only a NEET aspirant knows what a big deal scoring 640 marks is. If I had scored these marks last year, I could've gotten into a top institution.”

The National Testing Agency (NTA), the nodal body that conducts the test, rejected allegations of irregularities in a press release and claimed that the rise in top scorers is due to an increase in the number of candidates this year.

“The number of candidates who appeared in 2023 was 20,38,596, while the number of candidates who appeared in 2024 increased to 23,33,297. The increase in candidates naturally led to an increase in high scorers due to a larger pool of candidates,” NTA said.

The grace marks awarded by the NTA are also one of the concerns of the students surrounding this controversy.

Another aspirant, who chose to stay anonymous, said, “The agency did not announce earlier that grace marks would be given to students. At my centre, the question paper was also given late. I would've demanded grace marks too if they had informed me earlier.”

Regarding these concerns, NTA clarified that the grace marks were awarded due to Writ Petitions by the students to make up for the loss of exam time at certain centres. In a press release, NTA stated, “Candidates were compensated for the loss of time and the revised marks of such candidates vary from -20 to 720 marks. Amongst these, the score of two candidates also happens to be 718 and 719 marks respectively, due to compensatory marks. On the analysis of the CCTV footage, it was ascertained that the integrity of the examination was not compromised at these Centre (sic).”

Talking to The Free Press Journal (FPJ), several students have alleged that the results were declared on the day of the Lok Sabha election results to hide these discrepancies. “The results were originally supposed to be declared on June 14. It was suddenly decided that they should be declared while the Supreme Court case was still going on. It wanted the Lok Sabha elections to overshadow NEET results. So no one would talk about it,” alleged a student on the condition of anonymity.

Addressing concerns about the early release of the results, NTA stated that the results were released as soon as all required verifications were done. “As per practice, the result of NTA Examinations including NEET (UG) is declared at the earliest on the completion of the necessary checks in the result processing post the Answer Key challenge period. NTA managed to declare the

Results of about 23 lakh candidates within 30 days,” reads the press release.

On May 5, the Bihar Police Headquarters stated that they had received information that candidates were cheating in the NEET (UG) Exam 2024 at various centres in Patna. On May 10, an eight-member special investigation team led by Superintendent Madan Kumar Anand was formed to investigate the matter. During the investigation, the police found out that a gang gathered 35 candidates at a hostel and school in Patna and gave them the answers to the exam. The police found burnt question paper, admit cards, postdated cheques and certificates from these candidates, the police said in a press statement.

Urging the Supreme Court and the Government of India to conduct a re-exam, another NEET candidate said, "The government should take the right decision. In 2015, the NEET exam was re-conducted due to one paper leak case. We want the same for the 2024 exam.”

“It’s unfair for the hardworking students if the paper was leaked. The students who were true to their studies will not have any issue appearing for the exam again,” the student added. Another student from Surat said, “We want re-examination because the students who worked hard need to be rewarded.”

The NTA has claimed in its press release that there was no paper leak in NEET 2024, although cases of impersonation were identified and addressed.

While the NTA claims that there were no irregularities, the students claim otherwise