Why NEET 2026 was cancelled despite paper leak allegations in previous years

New Delhi: Even though the allegations of paper leak in the NEET have been raised previously as well, it was in 2026 when the National Testing Agency (NTA), the body in charge of holding the test, decided to cancel the exam, which was conducted for over 22.05 lakh candidates on May 3.

NEET-UG, the common entrance examination for admission to undergraduate medical courses, is undoubtedly the largest exam that the NTA has in charge of conducting, in terms of the massive number of candidates who appear in it on a single day and in a single shift. 

Announcing its decision to cancel the exam held in 2026, NTA on its official X (formerly Twitter) handle posted, "In continuation of its press release dated 10 May 2026, the National Testing Agency wishes to inform candidates, parents, and members of the public of the following decisions taken in respect of NEET (UG) 2026. NTA had, on 8 May 2026, referred the matters then under consideration to the central agencies for independent verification and necessary action, consistent with its standing commitment to the fair, secure, and credible conduct of the national examinations entrusted to it. On the basis of the inputs subsequently examined by NTA in coordination with the central agencies, and the investigative findings shared by the law enforcement agencies and in order to ensure that there is transparency in the system, the National Testing Agency, with the approval of the Government of India, has decided to cancel the NEET (UG) 2026 examination conducted on 3 May 2026, and to re-conduct the examination on dates that will be notified separately."

"The inputs received by NTA, taken together with the findings shared by the law enforcement agencies, established that the present examination process could not be allowed to stand. The re-conducted examination dates, along with the re-issued admit-card schedule, will be communicated through the official channels of the Agency in the coming days," the NTA stated.

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This decision was taken by the agency after it on May 7 received information about the alleged malpractices surrounding the NEET UG 2026 exam. According to the sources in the NTA, the allegations were about a PDF file that was circulating with questions. Following this, NTA referred the matter to law enforcement agencies. 

Sources said that since the details about the document had surfaced four days after the test, it was necessary to ascertain if it had been circulating before the exam, the Indian Express has reported.

Rajasthan Special Operations Group said that it found a 'guess paper' with 410 questions, out of which allegedly 120 questions appeared in the UG medical entrance exam.

Why were previous NEETs not Cancelled Despite Paper Leak Allegations? 

Every year, allegations of malpractices and paper leaks in the NEET UG exam are made. One of the many reasons is the massive scale of the examination held in a pen-and-paper mode. 

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that similar allegations were raised in 2024 as well, and back then, students were demanding cancellation of the exam and a retest after a paper leak in Jharkhand. In fact, pleas were filed in this regard before the Supreme Court as well. However, back in 2024, the Apex Court rejected demands for a retest, noting that there was no proof to indicate a systemic leak of the question paper, which would indicate a disruption of the exam's sanctity.

However, the Apex Court had agreed that the exam paper had leaked in Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, and in Patna, Bihar. Later, an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also revealed that the candidates paid to obtain solved papers hours before the exam and the coordinator of an exam centre in Jharkhand was also found to be involved in the leak.

Despite the uproar and demands for a retest, in 2024, the Centre had maintained its position against a re-examination, with the Education Ministry insisting that no large-scale breach of confidentiality had taken place. In fact, the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had also said that the country should not hold the future of many candidates belonging from rural areas hostage for "some isolated incidents."

In the same year, the UGC-NET was cancelled a day after being held on the grounds that the paper may have been leaked on the darknet. In that year, the CSIR-UGC NET and the NEET-PG exams were also postponed.

Measures Taken After 2024 Leak: 

After the 2024 paper leak controversies, the Central Government had set up a seven-member panel headed by former ISRO Chief K. Radhakrishnan to recommend corrective measures for the smooth conduct of these exams. Besides Radhakrishnan, other members of the expert committee are Randeep Guleria, B J Rao, Ramamurthy K, Pankaj Bansal, Aditya Mittal and Govind Jaiswal.

In its October 2024 report, the panel had recommended the reformation of the National Common Entrance Testing including strengthening of NTA, institutional linkage with States, involvement of Test Indenting Agencies as Knowledge and Examinations partner etc. The panel also recommended the constitution of a High-Powered Steering Committee accordingly.

While submitting its report, the panel drew parallels with the conduct of elections and proposed a similar mechanism for enduring security of public exams. As per the panel, testing centres should be sealed in the presence of the district administration and police, and guarded till they were unsealed for the exam, in the presence of the district administration and NTA officials. Further, it suggested that NTA collaborates with the State and district administrations to conduct these exams. Further, the panel recommended shifting the NEET exam from a pen-and-paper to a digital Computer-based mode.

NEET 2025 and 2026 were held after implementing some of these recommendations. NTA has been collaborating with district administrations for ensuring the security of testing centres and exam material. It also conducted Biometric verification of the candidates and the exam material was transported in GPS-enabled vehicles with police escort. CCTV surveillance at exam centres was accompanied by a centralised monitoring system set up at the NTA headquarters in Delhi. Further, mock drills were also held to ensure security arrangements.

Why was NEET 2026 Cancelled? 

While probing the possibility of a paper leak in the NEET 2026 exam, the police unravelled the suspected leak with an automated fineprint on a WhatsApp message: "Forwarded many times".

When investigators followed the trail of the "guess paper", they stumbled upon this WhatsApp message, which indicated that the leak was widespread in nature.

Rajasthan Police sources revealed that initially, the investigators believed that the paper had leaked directly from the printing press in Nashik.

During the probe, it also came to light that the leaked paper had been circulating for nearly 15 days before the exam date and it was sold to medical aspirants for any amount ranging from Rs 30,000 to Rs 28 lakh. Therefore, considering such a widespreadvleak for such a long period of time, the exam this year had to be cancelled.

Before this, in 2015, the All India Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Test (AIPMT), which was held by the CBSE, was cancelled after the Supreme Court ordered the same. Back then, the pleas before the top court bench demanded cancellation of the exam on the grounds that electroic devices were used by candidates to access the answer keys during the test. In 2016, NEET UG replaced AIPMT as the entrance test.

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