Patna: Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor took a sharp swipe at National Testing Agency (NTA) Director General Abhishek Singh, stating that the scale of a question paper leak does not diminish the gravity of the offence or its devastating impact on students.
His remarks came following the official cancellation of the examination due to integrity concerns. Addressing reporters in Patna, Kishor dismissed attempts to downplay the breach, emphasising that the system had fundamentally failed the candidates who poured months of hard work into their preparation.
“It will be considered a paper leak even if only one question was leaked or five were leaked,” Kishor said. “It has messed with the future of the students. They have worked hard and taken the exam, and such things have affected them.”
The political activist-turned-politician questioned the logic of debating the extent of the leak after the decision to scrap the test had already been finalised.
“The exam was cancelled, so how does it matter how many questions were leaked?” Kishor added, pointing out the redundancy of the NTA’s defence once an exam’s credibility is entirely compromised.
The statement adds to the growing political and public pressure on the NTA regarding its examination security protocols, as repetitive cancellations continue to trigger widespread anxiety and frustration among millions of young aspirants across the country.
According to sources, NTA DG Abhishek Singh and Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi told the committee that several reforms recommended for strengthening the examination system had already been implemented, while work on the remaining measures was ongoing.
Officials maintained that the alleged leak did not originate from the NTA system and said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing the circulation of leaked questions that led to the cancellation of the examination, as per the sources.
They also defended the cancellation under the agency’s “zero-tolerance” policy, stating that even limited compromise of questions could undermine public trust in competitive examinations.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee also reviewed measures being taken to prevent similar incidents in the future and discussed proposals to shift NEET-UG to a computer-based testing format from next year.
Political tensions continue over the NEET-UG 2026 controversy, which led to the cancellation of the examination held on May 3 across 551 cities in India and 14 international centres, with over 22 lakh candidates appearing.
The re-examination is scheduled for June 21 under enhanced security measures mandated by the Union Education Ministry.
