NEET-UG exam row: Rahul Gandhi hits out at Modi government for 'destroying future of students'

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked PM-designate Narendra Modi amid the ongoing NEET-UG medical entrance controversy stating that the alleged discrepancies in the examination had "devastated more than 24 lakh students and their families".

The grand old party's MP-elect then assured that he would become their voice in the parliament, further vowing to strongly raise concerns related to the betterment of their future.

"Narendra Modi has not even taken oath yet and the scam in NEET exam has devastated more than 24 lakh students and their families. 6 students from the same exam centre top the exam with maximum marks, many get such marks which are technically not possible, but the government is continuously denying the possibility of paper leak," Gandhi said in a post on X.

Further reiterating the poll promise to formulate a law that would deal with the paper leak issues, Gandhi said that the grand old party has come up with a "robust plan".

"Congress had made a robust plan to deal with this 'paper leak industry' which is being run in collusion with the education mafia and the government machinery. In our manifesto, we had pledged to free the students from paper leak by making a law," he said.

"Today, I assure all the students of the country that I will become your voice in Parliament and strongly raise the issues related to your future. The youth have expressed confidence in INDIA - INDIA will not allow their voice to be suppressed," Gandhi added.

'BJP govt has destroyed future of medial aspirants,' says KC Venugopal

Earlier, Congress general secretary (organisations) KC Venugopal had hit out at the BJP government over "destroying the future of medical aspirants" andurgedthe Ministry of Education to conduct a proper investigation into the matter.

In a post on X, KC Venugopal said, "The BJP government has totally botched the NEET examinations and destroyed the future of our medical aspirants."

"First, it persisted with the exam despite huge opposition from many states, especially Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Now, it is clearly unable to administer it effectively and we are now seeing the paper leak at the national level. This, coupled with multiple irregularities raises alarm about how the exam is being conducted," he added.

India's NEET test-takers allege discrepancy in results

One of India's most sought-after exams, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) which is the gateway for admission to medical colleges, found itself surrounded by controversy this week after several aspirants complained about inflation of marks.

The declaration of NEET results on Wednesday (Jun 5) witnessed an unprecedented 67 candidates bagging the top rank, out of which six were from the same exam centre in the northern state of Haryana.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), however, dismissed the claims regarding discrepancies and irregularities in the result.

It cited changes made to the NCERT textbooks and 'grace marks' given to students for losing time at the examination centres as the reasons behind students scoring higher marks.

"Such cases and representations were considered by NTA and the normalisation formula, which has been devised and adopted by Supreme Court, vide its Judgment dated 13.06.2018, was implemented to address the loss of time faced by the candidates of NEET (UG) 2024," it said in a statement.

"The loss of examination time was ascertained and such candidates were compensated with grace marks. So, there marks can be 718 or 719 also," the statement further read.

However, on Saturday, the NTA set up a committee to review the grace marks awarded to NEET UG 2024 candidates.

(With inputs from agencies)