UP Board Exams 2026: 48 lakh appear on Feb 20; 5 impersonators held, cheating cases rise to 7

More than 48 lakh students appeared in the UP Board Class 10, 12 exams conducted on February 20, the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP) said, adding that 2.98 lakh students remained absent. UP Board Exam 2026 LIVE

Out of the 51,22,005 registered students for the UP Board Class 10, 12 exams 2026, a total of 27,67,087 students were scheduled to appear in the first shift and 23,54,918 were registered for the second shift, as per the official data.

Despite strict guidelines and tight security, the UPMSP said three students – two in high school and one in intermediate – were caught using unfair means in the February 20 exams, taking the total number of such cases so far to seven.

Class 10 students appeared for the social science paper and Class 12 students sat for agriculture engineering paper - IV, agriculture animal husbandry and veterinary Science paper IX on February 20.

UP 10th, 12th Board Exam 2026: 11 FIRs registered so far

Five impersonation cases were also reported in Gorakhpur and Pratapgarh districts in the first shift, and in Jhansi, Kannauj and Etah in the second shift. A total of 11 FIRs have been registered so far in connection with exam irregularities, the board said.

Also read CBSE 2026: Board tightens rules on cheating, makes it harder to pass; Class 10 gets new marksheets

In a separate notification, the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Sanskrit Shiksha Parishad said exams on February 20 were conducted peacefully without any cheating cases. In the first shift, 40,851 students were registered to appear, of whom 34,884 appeared and 5,967 were absent. In the second shift, 13,746 students had registered, of which 13,151 appeared and 595 remained absent.

On February 21, 41,629 students are scheduled to appear for Hindi, Pali, Prakrit, and Nepali subjects in the first shift, and 14,156 in the second shift, the board said.