Two separate controversies surrounding the NEET UG 2026 results have raised fresh questions over the National Testing Agency’s examination and result-processing system. Candidates from Gorakhpur and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh have alleged their scores changed after results were declared, with both families demanding an independent, transparent investigation. The NTA has rejected the allegations in at least one case, claiming the candidate’s submitted OMR sheet had itself been tampered with.
Two Nearly Identical Complaints From Uttar Pradesh
The first case involves Harshit Thukrai, a resident of Mohaddipur in Gorakhpur, who alleged that after results were released, he accessed his scorecard around 3 am following repeated attempts due to heavy website traffic, finding a score of 603 marks with a 91.77 percentile, which he immediately screenshotted. When he logged in again the following morning, his score had dropped to 32 marks. Harshit said this was his third attempt at the exam, having prepared at a reputed Delhi coaching institute. His mother, Vimal Devi, said the family sent two emails seeking clarification, but both responses reportedly reflected only the 32-mark score with no explanation for the alleged discrepancy, leaving Harshit, the family says, under severe mental stress.
The second case concerns Arya Singh from Kanpur, who, based on the official answer key, expected to score 609 marks. She alleged her result initially showed 540 marks, before changing to 167 marks when checked again later that night. Arya participated in a protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, publicly presenting documents she says support her allegations. Her father, Rakesh Singh, said the family had emailed all available evidence to the NTA without a satisfactory response, and is prepared to approach the court if the matter remains unresolved administratively.
The NTA’s Response and a Wider Pattern of Complaints
The NTA has denied Arya Singh’s specific allegations, stating that the OMR sheet she presented had allegedly been tampered with, and that the officially preserved original OMR sheet was used for evaluation, generating the 167-mark scorecard from official examination records. No detailed public clarification has yet been issued regarding Harshit Thukrai’s claims.
These two cases are part of a considerably larger wave of similar complaints surfacing this results cycle. NEET UG candidate Ibtesham Nasar separately alleged on social media that she had expected around 595 marks based on her Re-NEET 2026 responses, only to see her declared score at roughly 60 marks, claiming the OMR sheet uploaded by the agency did not match the responses she had actually marked during the exam. In response to this broader wave of complaints, the NTA issued a public advisory stating it was reviewing all submissions closely and had identified some fake or AI-generated OMR sheets among those submitted for scrutiny, warning candidates and parents to submit only original OMRs or risk facing legal action.
Context: A Re-Conducted Exam Already Under Scrutiny
This year’s results stem from a Re-NEET UG 2026, conducted after the original examination faced malpractice allegations that the NTA said it escalated to central agencies on May 8, a day after receiving initial inputs, crediting subsequent detentions reported by the Rajasthan Special Operations Group to what it called professional and timely coordination. The re-conducted exam drew 22,09,318 registered candidates, of whom 20,96,640 appeared and 11,21,185 qualified, a qualifying rate of roughly 53.47 percent.
OMR-related disputes are not new to NEET specifically, having surfaced in similar form during the 2024 cycle as well, when the NTA was compelled to publicly deny circulating a viral video claiming to show a torn OMR sheet sent from its official email. That history of recurring, high-profile disputes over result integrity means each fresh complaint this year lands against a backdrop of pre-existing public scepticism toward the agency’s processes, making a transparent resolution considerably more consequential than a routine grievance would otherwise be.
Both the Thukrai and Singh families continue seeking an impartial review of the technical records, result-processing logs and related evidence underlying their cases. If their grievances remain unresolved through administrative channels, the disputes could move to judicial forums, following a path several NEET-related grievances have taken in previous years. The controversy remains ongoing, and any final determination regarding the disputed scores will depend on the outcome of official inquiries, technical verification, or judicial proceedings, should they be initiated.
