CBSE OSM row: Congress calls govt action “eyewash”, demands Pradhan’s removal

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday dubbed the government's move to shunt out two top CBSE officials following the on-screen marking system row as an "eyewash" and "cover-up", with Rahul Gandhi demanding that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan be sacked and an independent judicial inquiry be ordered immediately. Gandhi also met Sarthak Sidhant, an 18-year-old student from Jharkhand affected by the CBSE's online marking system, who has pointed out "irregularities" in the tendering process to select a vendor for the on-screen marking (OSM) system for Class-12 board exams.

After meeting Sidhant and his family, Gandhi posted pictures from the meeting and said, "Sarthak, stay firm on your principles." Sidhant also made a presentation before a parliamentary panel on Tuesday on the alleged irregularities in the OSM tendering process. Soon after the government shunted out two top CBSE officials following the online marking row, Gandhi termed it a "cover-up" exercise, saying while officials have been removed, the education minister has been spared.

The leader of opposition in Lok Sabha demanded that Education Minister Pradhan be dismissed and an independent judicial inquiry be ordered into the matter immediately. CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh and Secretary Himanshu Gupta were shunted out of the national educational board in the wake of the alleged irregularities in the digital evaluation system for the Class-12 examination process, officials said.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has been engulfed in a controversy after some Class 12 students alleged that the scanned copies of their answer sheets uploaded by the board did not match their handwriting, raising concerns over possible answer-sheet mismatch in the OSM system. In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said that had the prime minister cared for about 18.5 lakh students who appeared in the CBSE Class-12 exam, Pradhan would have been removed long ago. "CBSE Chairman - Transferred. CBSE Secretary - Transferred.

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A one-member 'inquiry' committee - Formed. And the real culprit, Dharmendra Pradhan - Safe. "Officials removed. Minister spared. This isn't accountability, it's a cover-up," the former Congress chief said in his post. "Our demand remains the same today: Dismiss the education minister and conduct an independent judicial inquiry – these aren't some one-month-old internal file of the Modi government to be brushed aside just like that. "If the prime minister cared about the 18.5 lakh CBSE students, Dharmendra Pradhan ji would have been removed long ago," Gandhi said.

The Cabinet Secretariat on Tuesday, through a memorandum, announced the constitution of a one-member committee to inquire into matters relating to the procurement of services for the OSM system by the CBSE. The committee will be chaired by S Radha Chauhan, chairperson, Capacity Building Commission, it said. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the transfer of the CBSE chairman and secretary was a "mere eyewash", and demanded that Pradhan be immediately sacked. "The transfer of CBSE chairman and secretary is a mere eyewash. Modi ji should immediately sack Dharmendra Pradhan.

Nothing less than that would provide a sense of justice to 18.5 lakh CBSE students," Kharge said in a post on X. "'Big Breaking' is not this whitewashing; the real news is Pradhan's continuation despite all this!" the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha added. Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, said the CBSE officials have been transferred, but justice requires that "Mantri Pradhan be sacked".

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"The CBSE leadership's unceremonious exit and the constitution of the one-member committee to investigate the procurement of the CBSE's OSM system prove that irregularities were committed," he said on X. This is a testament to the ingenuity and skill of Gen Z students, who exposed this scandal online and even brought it to the notice of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education under the chairmanship of Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday, Ramesh said.

"Today's action, clearly timed for after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education's meeting with the CBSE, is an attempt to distract and fix accountability on bureaucrats rather than the political leadership," Ramesh said. It should be remembered that the CBSE chairperson was given a two-year extension by the Cabinet Committee on Appointments as recently as November 2025, he added. "Mantri Pradhan has been presiding over a monumentally corrupt, inept, and incompetent ecosystem that has played havoc with the lives of lakhs of youth. He needs to resign immediately," Ramesh said.