Comparatively, in 2023, candidates scoring between 700 to 720 ranks were spread across 116 cities and 310 centres, while those who scored between 650 to 699 ranks were spread across 381 cities and 2431 centres.
This year, one of the criticisms of the exams, in addition to the irregularities, was that there were too many toppers and rank-holders above 700. The Centre, in the release, said that these students were spread across 1,404 centres across the country and abroad.
“These 1,404 centres were again spread across 276 cities and 25 states and UTs. Such a large spread shows that many candidates who were not from the traditional tuition hubs were also able to come in the toppers list in NEET 2024,” the government said in the release.
There has been criticism that a huge chunk of toppers are from traditional tuition hubs like Sikar, Kota and Kottayam. In defence, the government said that many students from several other cities were within this bracket, too.
“For example, 35 students appearing from Lucknow, 27 students appearing from Kolkata, 25 students appearing from Latur, 20 students appearing from Nagpur, 19 from Faridabad, 18 from Nanded, 17 from Indore, 16 each from Cuttack and Kanpur, 14 each from Kolhapur, Noida, Sahibzada, Ajit Singh Nagar, 13 each from Agra and Aligarh, 10 each from Akola and Patiala, 8 from Davangere, 7 from Banaskantha, etc. were able to score 700 or more marks,” it said.