'This is fraud': Rahul Gandhi raises fresh questions over CBSE OSM row, alleges phone-scanned answer sheets

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi attacked the government and the CBSE once again over allegations of corruption in the board's tender process for the Class 12 on-screen marking (OSM) system. He made the fresh remarks after meeting the CBSE students. He alleged that answer sheets were scanned using mobile phones instead of professional equipment, after a sit-down chat with students who became the public face of the controversy over CBSE's first-ever digital evaluation exercise. Gandhi raised the issue highlighted by student researcher Sarthak Sidhant, whose document-based investigation blew the lid on how the board awarded the contract for the online marking portal.

The Congress MP accused the private vendor responsible for digitising answer books, COEMPT Edu Teck, of using mobile phones to scan physical answer sheets. He alleged that the board tweaked the tender and diluted requirements to favour one particular firm, making it complicit in the alleged misconduct. Gandhi further claimed that every student whose marks were affected by evaluation errors was a victim of fraud. Slamming PM Modi- led government, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi remained silent on the issue despite concerns affecting nearly 18.5 lakh students. He also demanded Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation.

Also Read: CBSE admits security vulnerabilities in class 12 digital evaluation portal hacked twice

"CBSE’s May 2025 tender required answer sheets to be scanned with automatic robotic scanners, spines preserved, at a minimum of 300 DPI. The tender re-issued in August quietly removed all of it," Gandhi wrote in a social media post on X.

"Scanners' became generic. Resolution dropped to 200 DPI. Now we know what that meant in practice. It has been exposed that COEMPT scanned the answer sheets using mobile phones. The blurred copies, the missing pages, the unscanned books — they are not ‘errors.’ They are the predictable outcome of a contract written to fit a vendor. This is fraud," he added in his post.

What is OSM system and controversies around it?

The OSM system was introduced to make answer-sheet evaluation faster, more transparent, and less prone to human error. However, shortly after results were declared, several students reported problems with their evaluated answer sheets and marks. The issue widened when ethical hacker Nisarga Adhikary claimed to have discovered vulnerabilities in the OSM ecosystem. He alleged that security flaws could allow unauthorised access to scanned answer sheets.

CBSE later acknowledged vulnerabilities. CBSE has maintained that it is addressing technical issues, strengthening cybersecurity measures, and reviewing complaints. The board has not accepted allegations of deliberate wrongdoing in the tender process or answer-sheet digitisation.