Cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 over paper leak frustrates medical course aspirants

Pune: Several aspiring doctors from the city as well as parts of Marathwada, north and south Maharashtra were both angry and disappointed on Tuesday over the National Testing Agency's decision to cancel the NEET-UG 2026 held on May 3 over exam paper leak.

"It is simply frustrating. After having studied for the past one year with a singular focus on cracking the exam, we are now told that we have to appear in the exam again because of no fault of ours," said an aspirant.



Another aspiring doctor blamed the National Testing Agency (NTA)'s mismanagement for their plight, pointing out that this was not the first time that the NEET-UG paper had leaked. "We had a similar situation in 2024 . The authorities then promised measures like GPS and CCTV cameras on vehicles transporting NEET-UG papers, but to no avail," he said.

The NTA conducts the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) [NEET-UG] examination for admission to medical courses. The same agency conducts the JEE for engineering admissions. Malpractices have either not occurred in the JEE Main examinations or have not come to light so far.

Several aspirants are in a quandary after the cancellation of the NEET-UG exam. "The May 3 exam was my second attempt because I wanted to improve my score. I am not sure how the next paper will turn out," said one of them.

Durgesh Mangeshkar, an expert on entrance exams, said, "JEE is conducted in a computer-based format. The same model should be followed for the NEET. Just shifting to the computer-based format might not be enough because it can also have vulnerabilities. Hence, the adaptive testing method should be adopted."

Some experts said adaptive testing systems were used in the US. Questions are dynamically selected from a pool of millions of questions and presented individually to students in this method. As a result, hacking or manipulating such a system becomes nearly impossible. Each student receives a personalised question paper.

A section of the society blamed the NEET-UG paper leak repeat this year on the lack of exemplary punishment to the perpetrators of the 2024 scam. Vivek Velankar, president, Sajag Nagrik Manch, said, "The 2024 NEET examination paper leak investigation was handed over to the CBI. Were chargesheets filed against the accused in the court? Was any accused punished? The answers to these questions remain shrouded in secrecy. Had the investigation into the 2024 scam been completed, no one would have dared to carry out another paper leak scam in 2026."

Mukund Kirdat, spokesperson of Aam Aadmi Party, Maharashtra, said, "The cancellation of the NEET examination has left the future of nearly 3.5 lakh students in Maharashtra hanging in uncertainty. Irregularities involving financial transactions and inflated grace marks had come to light in 2024, too. Such incidents are bound to mentally demoralise students. More dangerously, they create a long-term perception that everything in the examination system can be bought."