NEET UG Result Delayed candidates allege rigging in results, NTA insists system is ‘foolproof’.

“NEET aspirants have no idea about the result declaration. NEET UG Result Delayed also mean that students will have lesser options to choose from at a later stage. A collective of six students from different parts of the country has moved the Supreme Court against the National Testing Agency (NTA) alleging “massive rigging in the screening of OMR sheets”. The first hearing of the case is scheduled to be held today November 29.

Two of the six petitioners, while talking to media shared that the OMR sheets they received on their email were different from what they were shown at the agency’s office in Noida after they reached out to the authorities for a clarification regarding the “glaring discrepancy in the marks obtained”.

Petitioner Prabhnoor Singh’s score after the declaration of the answer key and uploading of the OMR sheet was 584 marks, but the scorecard mentioned 164 marks as his final result. Similarly, Aryan Singh from Uttar Pradesh expected a score of 675 marks based on the OMR and answer key received via email, but his NEET UG result mentioned only 52 marks.

“The two OMRs one that we received on mail and the other that we saw in the NTA office – do not match. We asked the agency for a carbon copy but they said it will take around 2 months for the same,” said Aryan’s father, Ashok Kumar Singh.

Apart from the six petitioners, other aspirants are also claiming to have faced similar issues. 19 year-old Ansari Mohammad Aswan from Mumbai was shocked that he had scored zero marks in NEET UG Result. “I was devastated on looking at my scorecard. When I checked the OMR sheet, I noticed that no answers were encircled in the answer sheet, whereas I had attempted the questions that I knew the answers to. Based on answer keys, I was expecting a score of around 545 marks,” Aswan told.

He had appeared for NEET in 2020 and had scored 420 marks. “I had used the black pen that the NTA had provided at the exam centres. Besides, my personal details such as name, application number etc were mentioned on the OMR, but how could the sheet be blank? If I wanted to leave it blank then why would I appear again this year?” he said

Another aspirant from Chhattisgarh’s Raipur, Vishwanath Kumar, had appeared for the exam at a centre in Kota. He claims that the centre wasted around 30 minutes of exam time in formalities. Around 25 candidates who took the exam at this centre in Kota had also filed a PIL in Supreme Court, but it was dismissed soon after.

“I have scored 683 marks. Based on the cut-off, my rank should be around 5,000 whereas my declared rank is 7,025. In competitive exams such as NEET UG, even a difference of 5 ranks can cost you a good college. My classmate, who studied with me in Kota, has got 682 marks and his rank is under 5,000,” Kumar said.

He is now aiming to get admission at the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune. “I am aiming for AFMC, Pune. Hence I will have to undergo a different selection process as I fulfil the criteria of minimum required marks. But, if I fail to get admission there then my chances of getting a good college are minuscule,” he added.

A senior NTA official, on condition of anonymity, told to media, “Our systems are foolproof. Such malpractices are not possible. Students often are so stressed and burdened because of the pressure that they end up lying to their parents about their performance. Then, these parents start filing complaints and moving the courts with PILs.” The agency had recently opened a window on its official website for candidates to view the scanned OMR sheets of NEET-UG 2021.

Unlike other aspirants who got their OMR sheets within a couple of days after the results were released, Snigdha Singh from Punjab’s Pathankot got her OMR answer sheet on November 9 only after placing a formal request to NTA over mail.

Her father Rakeshwar Singh told that most people do not bother to check the OMR sheets as the option was not available till last year. “Snigdha scored 406 marks. After tallying the OMR sheet and NTA answer key, there is still a totalling difference of around 16 marks. A lot of students have gone through similar experiences and we will be filing a petition in the court soon,” he said.

Another aspirant from Madhya Pradesh, who did not want to be named fearing roadblocks in future exams, said he too had received a lower-than-expected score. “I was sure that these could not be my marks. I even checked the OMR but the score remained the same. However, when I went to the NTA office to check my original OMR, it was different from what I had received in the mail,” he said.