NEET Row: Congress to protest ‘corruption, ‘irregularities’ in exam on June 21

NEW DELHI: The committees of the Indian National Congress (INC) will protest against the ‘massive corruption’ and ‘irregularities’ in the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) 2024 on June 21. MP K C Venugopal, general secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), asked all the committees to hold protests and include senior leaders.

In a letter to the Congress leaders, the committee said that there is an urgent need to address the numerous complaints and concerns surrounding the NEET UG 2024 exam and NEET results. “As you are aware, the National Testing Agency (NTA) released the results of NEET-UG 2024 on 4th June 2024. The results have been marred by allegations of irregularities and paper leaks following the inflated marks of some aspirants,” it said.

The committee iterated that there are significant concerns over inflated marks and irregularities, and awarding of grace marks to certain students without disclosing the methodology further raises doubts. Attacking the ruling government, it said ‘the examination has been plagued by technical glitches, malpractice, and unfair means in certain test centres. Organised corruption is evident from arrests made in Bihar, Gujarat, and Haryana, revealing a pattern of malpractice in BJP-ruled states.”

The Supreme Court has also highlighted the seriousness of the allegations, demanding zero tolerance for negligence, AICC letter said nand added “such irregularities undermine the credibility of the examination process and jeopardise the future of countless dedicated students.”

Several opposition parties have been protesting against the conduct of NEET UG 2024 and against the NEET 2024 results demanding an investigation under the SC supervision. Recently, NTA announced a re-exam for over 1,500 candidates who were awarded grace marks. The NEET UG result 2024 sparked controversy following paper leak allegations, clustering of toppers from the same centre, and awarding of grace marks. NTA and union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan had denied any irregularities in the exam.