95 instead of 522? NEET 2026 candidate files HC plea against NTA over alleged score error

Aurangabad: Alleging discrepancies in the NEET 2026 re-exam result, a candidate from Maharashtra's Beed district who appeared for the examination has moved the Bombay High Court claiming that the National Testing Agency (NTA) awarded him just 95 marks instead of the 522 he calculated from his OMR sheet and official answer key.

The petitioner stated that he was compelled to approach the court after receiving no response from the NTA despite sending emails and seeking clarification regarding the discrepancy.

The plea, filed before the Aurangabad bench, is scheduled to be heard today. 

The petitioner stated that he scored 94.6 per cent in Class 10 and 74.17 per cent in Class 12 (Science), and had appeared for the NEET-UG examination on June 21.

On comparing the OMR response sheet released on July 14 with the official answer key published two days later, he claimed he found that he had attempted 148 questions, of which 136 were correct, and 12 were incorrect.

Also read- Kanpur NEET 2026 candidate alleges result score changed multiple times, NTA rejects claim

Under the NEET marking scheme, he claimed that he should have secured 522 out of 720 marks. However, theNTA-issued scorecard showed only 95 marks.

The petitioner stated that he had emailed the NTA on July 17 and 18, seeking re-evaluation and correction of his result, but received no response.

He has now filed a writ petition through advocates Sudarshan Salunke and Mahendra Gandle, seeking verification of his answer sheet and a corrected scorecard, reports PTI. 

Representing the student, advocate Mahendra Gandle told NDTV, "After examining the available documents and evidence, we found merit in the student's claim. Therefore, we have filed a writ petition before the Hon'ble Bombay High Court. The matter has been listed for hearing on July 23."

According to the advocate, the student contacted the National Testing Agency (NTA) soon after the result was announced, claiming there was an issue with the score. He said the student sent seven emails and made multiple phone calls to seek clarification. While NTA allegedly replied to one email stating that the matter would be resolved within 16 hours, the advocate claimed no further response or action was taken.

The NEET UG 2026 exam was conducted on May 3 by the National Testing Agency and was held from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM in pen-and-paper mode. Over 22.7 lakh aspirants appeared for the examination this year. It took place across 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad, covering over 5,400 centres.

However, on May 12, 2026, the NTA declared the examination held on May 3 cancelled and subsequently announced a re-examination on June 21, 2026.

This came in the backdrop of the probe by the Rajasthan Police Special Operations Group, which reportedly found a “guess paper” containing more than 100 questions similar to those asked in the NEET UG examination. The question paper series under scrutiny has been described as a “guess paper” which reportedly contained around 410 questions. Out of these, nearly 120 questions are alleged to have appeared in the Biology and Chemistry sections of the examination.

In the aftermath of the exam cancellation, protests were held, with aspirants and members of the medical fraternity condemning NTA and the Education Ministry for the failure.

Due to the alleged controversy, the central government decided to refer the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation for a comprehensive inquiry into the allegations. Based on the Centre's direction, the CBI registered an FIR in the case and so far arrested 13 people.

Also read- NEET 2026: NTA warns against fake, AI generated OMR sheets, scorecards