Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday slammed the National Testing Agency (NTA) over its decision to re-conduct the UGC-NET examinations for English, Commerce and Sociology, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and saying, "Modi ji, look at what your NTA has just done."
He said that the agency had set faulty papers and repeated old questions, forcing thousands of candidates to appear for the examinations again in September.
In a post on X, Gandhi said, "UGC-NET exams for Sociology, English and Commerce were held between 22 and 30 June. Nearly two months later, NTA has cancelled all three because it set faulty papers and repeated old questions."
He said thousands of candidates who had prepared for the exams would now have to repeat the process.
"Thousands of candidates who prepared for years, filled forms, paid the fees, travelled to distant centres, must now do it all again in September. NTA makes the mistake but the student serves the sentence," Gandhi said.
The Congress leader alleged that the examination system had become an "extraction machine", claiming that it takes students' money, years, mental health and confidence without providing adequate returns.
"I said this in Kota, in Dehradun, in Prayagraj, and I will keep saying it - this is no longer an education system. It is an extraction machine. It takes your money, your years, your mental health, and your confidence and returns nothing. Not even a job," he said.
"NTA still won't answer the real question - were these papers leaked before the exam? Just like every other arm of the Modi government, NTA never says it's their fault. Just like every other compromised paper, I am absolutely sure there will be no accountability," he said.
He also demanded accountability from the NTA leadership, saying, "Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation was the first step, not the last. NTA's leadership must be held accountable too. To every student sitting this exam again in September - you are not the problem."
"PM Modi built a system that cannot run an exam and then blames the students who take it. Your years are being stolen and we will not stop until PM Modi answers for it," he added.
Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh also asked why students should bear the consequences of errors in the examination system, asserting that the country's youth deserved answers.
Ramesh said the NTA had admitted, nearly two months after the UGC-NET June 2026 examination, that the question papers for English, Commerce and Sociology contained factual, typographical and translation errors.
According to Ramesh, the errors included misspelt names of prominent scholars, garbled book titles, grammatical mistakes, problems with gender and number agreement, punctuation errors and the use of non-standard terms for established concepts.
He also said the NTA's committee had found that a significant number of questions had been repeated from previous examinations.
The NTA has scheduled fresh examinations for the three subjects on September 9 and 10. The English paper will be held on September 9 from 9 am to noon, while the Commerce paper will take place the same day from 3 pm to 6 pm. The Sociology paper is scheduled for September 10 from 9 am to noon.
Ramesh questioned why students should suffer because of the NTA's mistakes and whether it should take nearly two months to identify such serious errors.
He also asked how students would be compensated for losses caused by the delay, particularly those who could miss admission to the current academic session at universities.
"The question isn't just why the exam is being held again. The question is how a question paper with such serious errors was prepared and approved in the first place," Ramesh said.
He questioned who would be held responsible for the lapses in a national-level examination linked to the careers of millions of young people.
Ramesh also demanded an explanation for the delay in declaring the results of thousands of candidates who appeared for examinations in the other 84 subjects.
The UGC-NET June 2026 examination was conducted by the NTA between June 22 and 30 across 87 subjects for the award of Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), eligibility for assistant professorship and admission to PhD programmes.
In a public notice, the NTA said it had received several complaints regarding errors in the three papers and had constituted a committee to examine the matter.
The committee found numerous factual, typographical and translation errors, including misspelt names of scholars, distorted book titles, errors in question wording, grammatical mistakes, gender and number agreement issues, punctuation errors and non-standard terms. It also found a significant number of questions that had appeared in previous examinations.
The committee recommended that the three papers be conducted again to ensure a fair and error-free examination.
The NTA said the extent of the defects meant they could not be addressed simply by dropping the affected questions following the challenge process. No additional examination fee will be charged from candidates appearing for the re-test.
Ramesh said that for candidates who appeared for the June examination, every day mattered as opportunities such as JRFs, eligibility for assistant professorships and PhD admissions were linked to the results.
He asked whether the Prime Minister, who frequently addresses the country's youth, would also speak about his government's responsibility for the examination lapses.
"The youth of the country demands answers," Ramesh said.
(With inputs from PTI)
