Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday announced that the NEET UG examination will be conducted in a computer-based format from next year, following the controversy surrounding the alleged paper leak in the 2026 medical entrance examination.
Addressing the media after the government confirmed the re-examination date, the minister said the decision was part of broader efforts to strengthen the integrity and transparency of one of India’s largest entrance tests.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) has already announced that the NEET UG 2026 re-examination will now be held on June 21 after the original exam conducted on May 3 was cancelled.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan further added that students will be given an additional 15 minutes to fill out the OMR sheet.
Pradhan also stated that the Central Bureau of Investigation will conduct a comprehensive probe into the alleged exam irregularities and go to the root of the paper leak case. He assured students that no fee would be charged for any re-examination.'
Complaint over ‘Guess Paper’ triggered probe
Speaking about the sequence of events, Dharmendra Pradhan said the controversy began after complaints were received regarding a so-called “guess paper” that allegedly contained questions matching those asked in the actual examination.
“The exam took place on May 3 and on May 7, NTA received a complaint that the guess paper had some questions that were present in the question sheets this time,” the minister said.
He added that the Higher Education Department immediately initiated an inquiry and handed the matter over to investigating agencies. According to him, state agencies were also contacted during the investigation process.
“By May 12, we were confirmed that, under the guise of a guess paper, the actual examination questions had indeed been leaked,” he stated.
Government says students should not suffer
Defending the government’s decision to cancel the examination, the Union minister said authorities did not want deserving students to suffer because of unfair practices and organised malpractice networks.
“We did not want any deserving student to be deprived of their rights due to the machinations of fraudulent candidates or the conspiracies of the education mafia,” he said.
The cancellation of the exam had triggered anxiety among lakhs of medical aspirants and parents across the country, many of whom had demanded clarity over the future of admissions and the examination process.
Radhakrishnan committee recommendations implemented
The minister also referred to reforms suggested earlier after concerns over irregularities in previous entrance examinations.
According to him, the government had constituted the Radhakrishnan Committee after earlier controversies, and its recommendations were implemented for both the 2025 and 2026 examinations.
“Despite implementing the recommendations word for word, this incident still occurred. Hence, our first decision was to cancel the examination,” he said.
