The Supreme Court has declined to interfere with the results and merit list announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA), dismissing a petition challenging the correctness of six answers in the NEET UG 2026 re-examination held on June 21.
SC Rejects Plea Seeking Correction Of Six Answers
A bench of Justice P. S. Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe rejected the petition filed by Kerala-based candidate Gayatri Arun, who sought corrections to six allegedly incorrect answers and the publication of a revised merit list before the counselling process.
According to a report by Bar and Bench, the petitioner claimed that the official answers to six Chemistry, Botany, and Zoology questions were inconsistent with the prescribed NCERT textbooks. She argued that even a single incorrect answer could significantly impact a candidate’s All India Rank (AIR) and requested that the disputed questions be referred to independent subject experts.
She also sought an updated rank and protection of her seat during the admission process.
NTA Final Answer Key And Merit List Remain Unchanged
However, the Supreme Court declined to entertain the petition and observed, “Having heard learned counsel for the petitioner and on carefully perusing the material placed on record, we are not inclined to entertain this petition under Article 32 of the Constitution. The writ petition is, accordingly, dismissed.”
The Court’s order means that the NTA’s final answer key, declared results, and merit list will remain unchanged.
Kerala HC Had Earlier Rejected Plea
The petitioner had earlier approached the Kerala High Court, alleging that technical glitches prevented her from uploading supporting documents while submitting objections to the provisional answer key.
She had also requested a three-day gap between the publication of the final answer key and declaration of results to allow candidates time to challenge the key.
However, the Kerala High Court dismissed the plea, observing that courts are not equipped to evaluate answer keys and that delaying the results would adversely affect other candidates. The decision was later upheld by a Division Bench.
SC Finds No Ground To Interfere
Before the Supreme Court, the petitioner argued that challenging the factual correctness of the final answer key was a separate issue from her earlier procedural challenge regarding the timing of the result declaration.
The apex court, however, found no grounds to interfere, leaving the NTA’s declared results and merit list intact. Advocate Sachin Patil appeared for the petitioner.
NEET UG Counselling 2026 Expected Soon
The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) is expected to release the NEET UG Counselling 2026 schedule soon for admissions to MBBS and BDS programmes.
Once the schedule is announced, eligible candidates can register and fill in their preferred colleges and courses through the official website.
Seat allotment will be based on candidates’ All India Rank (AIR), choices filled, seat availability, and applicable reservation policies.
According to the National Medical Commission (NMC), a total of 1,36,939 MBBS seats will be available during the MCC NEET UG Counselling 2026 process.
