Reports of NEET-UG question paper leak baseless, every single paper has been accounted for: NTA

New Delhi: The reports claiming question paper leak in the medical entrance exam NEET-UG are "completely baseless and without any ground", the National Testing Agency (NTA) clarified on Monday.

Stressing that every question paper has been "accounted for", the NTA said that purported images of the question paper circulating on social media have no relation with the actual paper.

"It has been ascertained from NTA's security protocols and Standard Operating Procedures that the social media posts pointing towards any paper leak are completely baseless and without any ground.

"To put rumours to rest, it is also stated that every single question paper has been accounted for," said Sadhana Parashar, Senior Director, NTA.

Parashar said that no external person or agency can access the centres once the examination starts.

She said that after the gates of the examination centres are closed, no one from outside is permitted access inside the halls, which are under CCTV surveillance.

"All other photographs of question papers circulating in social media have no relation to the actual examination question paper which has been administered," she added.

The entrance exam was conducted on Sunday at 4,750 centres in 571 cities including 14 cities abroad.

While the reports suggesting question paper leak have been doing rounds on social media since Sunday, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has also raised the issue.

"Once again, there are reports of NEET paper leak. The future of 24 lakh youth of the country has been messed up again. This trend that has been going on with crores of promising youth for the last ten years is not stopping."

"Will the Prime Minister of the country say anything about this? To pacify the youth, a law was passed in the Parliament against paper leak. Where is that law? Why is it not implemented?" she wrote on X.

The NTA had on Sunday claimed that the distribution of wrong question papers at an exam centre in Rajasthan led to some candidates walking out with the papers. The agency had denied any leak of the question paper.

"The integrity of the examination process was not compromised. The exam was later reconducted for the 120 affected candidates at the centre," Parashar had said on Sunday.

The NTA, however, admitted that there have been cases of malpractice and impersonation, and strict action has been taken against the involved candidates.

"NTA also conducts post-exam data analysis to detect cases of unfair means, action on which is taken as per rules including cancellation of candidature and debarment from future examinations," the official said.

This year, a record over 24 lakh candidates registered for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET-UG), of which over 10 lakh were male students, over 13 lakh were girls and 24 students registered under the third gender category.

Region-wise, Uttar Pradesh had registered the highest number of candidates at 3,39,125, followed by Maharashtra at 2,79,904 and Rajasthan at 1,96,139. Tamil Nadu saw 1,55,216 registrations and Karnataka 1,54,210.

In 2023, a total of 20,87,449 candidates had registered for NEET-UG and the exam was held on May 7. The NTA had recorded 97.7 per cent attendance in the exam.