NEET-UG 2026 Cancellation Leaves MP Candidates Angry; National Testing Agency Under Fire Over Paper Leak
· Free Press Journal
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Candidates from Madhya Pradesh are shocked and angered by the cancellation of NEET-UG 2026 following a paper leak. The National Testing Agency (NTA), on Tuesday, announced that the NEET-UG held on May 3 had been cancelled following allegations that the question paper was leaked the night before the examination date.
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Atharv Pandey, who had taken the exam, said he was shocked when he heard the news after waking up on Tuesday morning. “My coaching sir phoned to console me,” he said, adding that he would now have to go back to his books and notes. “I had done my paper well and I was hopeful of selection this year. But all my efforts have gone to waste,” he said.
Wasil Khan, who had been staying in Bhopal for the past one year attending coaching classes, had left for his hometown, Khandwa, after the examination. Now, he is preparing to come back.
“My sir told me to treat the cancelled examination as a mock test. But it’s not that easy,” he said, adding that, like earlier, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) should be entrusted with holding NEET. “Or they can go for online mode. Then there would be no possibility of a paper leak,” he said.
Piyush Pandey said the NTA had played a cruel joke with the future of 23 lakh students who had taken the examination this year. “There is so much security at the examination centres but their own internal system is so weak that papers get leaked so easily,” he said. Piyush, who had returned to his hometown, Satna, said he would go back to Bhopal and resume studies. “It is so frustrating, so unjust,” he added.
Daylight robbery of talented students’ rights: Nath
The Congress leaders reacted sharply to the cancellation of the NEET examination, with former Chief Minister Kamal Nath launching a fierce attack on the state government and describing the cancellation of the NEET-UG 2026 as a monumental failure. The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) burnt effigies of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and NTA chairman Pradeep Joshi here on Tuesday.
Nath said the current situation at the national level mirrored the infamous Vyapam scam seen in Madhya Pradesh. He alleged that the same model of recruiting unqualified individuals was now being projected across the country, which he characterised as a “daylight robbery of the rights of talented students”.
NSUI state vice president claimed that every year around 30 lakh students appear for the examination and if the examination gets cancelled, it affects not only the students but also their parents.
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