TNIE online desk
The National Testing Agency cancelled NEET-UG 2026 after allegations of a question paper leak surfaced, announcing that the medical entrance exam would be conducted again on fresh dates.
Investigators alleged that handwritten copies containing nearly 600 marks worth of questions were circulated among aspirants in Rajasthan weeks before the examination was held.
Student organisations including NSUI and SFI staged protests in Delhi and other cities, demanding accountability from the NTA and the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The cancellation left more than 22 lakh medical aspirants uncertain about their future, with many students and parents expressing frustration over repeated examination lapses.
Amid mounting outrage and emotional distress among aspirants, reports of deaths by suicide linked to examination pressure intensified calls for urgent reforms in India’s entrance exam system.
The NEET row also reignited debate over reforms within the NTA, with growing demands to shift the examination fully to a computer-based format from next year.