NEET UG 2026: Bombay HC Seeks Original OMR Sheets Over Alleged Result Discrepancies

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to produce the original OMR answer sheets of three NEET UG 2026 candidates who alleged discrepancies between their expected scores and the marks awarded in the final results.

A division bench of Justice Nitin Suryawanshi and Justice Abasaheb Shinde at the Aurangabad Bench issued notices to the Centre and the NTA on petitions filed by Hricha Deshpande, Soham Gavate and Atharva Jagtap.

"Issue notice to the respondents, returnable on July 30, 2026. Respondents are directed to produce the petitioners' answer sheets on the next date. List the matters in the urgent category," the court ordered.

The petitioners claimed that their NEET UG 2026 scores, declared on July 16, were significantly lower than the marks they calculated using their OMR sheets and the official answer key.

Deshpande alleged that the OMR sheet displayed on the NTA portal reflected responses corresponding to an expected score of around 619 marks. However, she later received another OMR sheet via email that allegedly showed significantly fewer attempted answers in Physics and Chemistry, reducing her expected score to around 280. She claimed that she immediately informed the NTA about the discrepancy before the results were declared.

Her plea stated, "The balance of convenience is in her favour because the respondents lose nothing by producing the original OMR and preserving records, whereas the petitioner will suffer irreversible educational prejudice if counselling proceeds solely on the basis of the disputed result."

The other two petitioners have also alleged similar discrepancies in their OMR records. The matter will next be heard on July 30, when the NTA has been directed to produce the original answer sheets.

Earlier, the NTA also issued a clarification on social media regarding OMR-related claims for NEET (UG) 2026. It stated, "Regarding OMR-related claims for NEET (UG) 2026 being circulated on social media, it may be noted that the genuine OMR of every candidate concerned is on record with NTA. It was made available on the candidate portal and emailed to the candidates at the time of the OMR Response Key challenge window."