Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh on Thursday intensified the party’s attack on the Centre over alleged irregularities in national entrance examinations, claiming that reports of a leak in the computer-based UGC-NET Sociology examination had exposed the government’s assertion that shifting to online testing would eliminate paper leaks.
In a post on social media platform X, Ramesh recalled that following the alleged leak of the NEET-UG examination in May 2026, union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had announced that the medical entrance examination would be conducted as a computer-based test (CBT) from the following year.
“Days after the NEET-UG exam was leaked in May 2026, the Mantri Pradhan announced that the NEET exam would now be conducted via a computer based test (CBT) from next year onwards. The implicit promise was that a CBT paper cannot be leaked unlike a pen and a paper examination,” Ramesh said.
Referring to recent reports, the Congress leader alleged that the UGC-NET Sociology examination this year appeared to have been leaked despite being conducted in the CBT format. He also claimed that the UGC-NET English examination had earlier come under scrutiny after questions were allegedly reproduced from previous years’ papers without any changes.
“The bottom line is that whatever be the format of the exam, paper leaks and irregularities are occurring because the Modi Government’s Education Ministry is compromised and the NTA is deliberately incompetent and incapacitated,” Ramesh alleged.
Demanding accountability, he said, “The Mantri Pradhan must resign and the NTA must be disbanded.”
The Congress has repeatedly targeted the BJP-led government over the functioning of the Ministry of Education, alleging repeated failures in conducting competitive examinations fairly and securely.
The party has accused the Centre of failing to protect the interests of students and has consistently demanded structural reforms in the examination system.
The allegations come against the backdrop of the controversy surrounding the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, which triggered nationwide protests by students and opposition parties and led to calls for greater accountability in the conduct of high-stakes examinations. The Centre has maintained that it is committed to ensuring transparent and secure examinations and has announced a series of measures, including transitioning NEET-UG to a computer-based format from next year, to strengthen the integrity of the testing process.
There was no immediate response from the union Education Ministry or the National Testing Agency to Ramesh’s latest allegations.
