NEET 2026 Scam: Biggest Entrance Exam Crisis in India?

Round 2 Counselling

3 Sep '26 - 19 Sep '26

Manager

Updated on May 14, 2026 19:57 IST

The NTA cancelled the NEET 2026 exam held on May 3 because news of paper leak came from different exam centres. The exam was conducted offline as an OMR-based exam. The NTA will soon conduct the NEET re Exam across the nation. The exam will be conducted in June and the result will be published in July.

NTA cancelled the NEET Exam 2026 on May 9. The candidates felt cheated with the news of paper leak. The NTA announced the NEET re-exam to rebuild the trust in the exam process and conduct the exam fairly again.

NEET is the biggest offline exam across the globe which is conducted in a single shift. The National Testing Agency is one of the premiere exam conducting body and it is very unfortunate that the NEET exam paper got leaked and resulted in the cancellation of NEET 2026.

The frustration of the candidates peaked with the news of the paper leak. All the efforts and exam preparation were wasted on it.

This has initiated various queries in the minds of candidates and the educationists across the nation. There is a plea filed in the Supreme Court to abolish the NTA and appoint another body that can conduct the NEET exam without failing.

Also Read: What can change in NEET Re-Exam 2026

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Number of Candidates Appearing in the NEET exam

Over 22 lakh candidates appeared in the NEET 2026 exam. As we know in India, it is a family affair as the dream of becoming a Doctor is a collective dream of the family. So over 66 lakh person were affected, lakhs of rupees waisted in travelling and lodging but above all the emotional and psychological shock came with the cancellation of NEET exam.

The candidates should note that the NEET is one of the largest exams in the whole world. It has been conducted successfully in previous years. But this year is different.

Year	Number of Registered Candidates	Number of Appeared Candidates
2025	2276069	2209318
2024	2406079	2333297
2023	2087462	2038596
2022	1872343	1764571
2021	1614777	1544273

It is a kind of mini city established around the NEET exam centres on the day of the examination. NEET Re-exam 2026 is the only way to reinstate the trust of a transparent exam process in the eyes of Indian society.

Also Read: NEET 2026 Cancelled-Effort Wasted?

Also Read: How to Prepare for NEET Re-Exam 2026

Commonly asked questions

Q: What is the NEET cutoff score?

The NEET cut off score generally changes every year, based on the exam difficulty level. The NEET 2025 cut off score was reduced from that of 2024. Have a look at the cut off scores of NEET 2025 exam below-

Category	NEET 2025 Cutoff percentile	NEET 2025 Cutoff score
UR/EWS	50th	686-144
OBC, SC, ST	40th	143-113
UR/EWS-PwD	45th	143-127
OBC/SC/St-PwD	40th	126-113

Q: Can I get AIIMS with 550 NEET scores?

The AIIMS accepts NEET scores for admission to the MBBS. Students need to obtain the NEET cut off percentile and scores to get shortlisted for counselling in AIIMS MBBS course. The NEET 2025 cutoff scores for generally category was 686-144. So, a general category student with 550 marks cannot take admissions to AIIMS.

Q: What is the NEET counselling registration fee?

The NEET counselling registration fee varies for different candidate categories. For the AIQ seats and Central Universities, the fee for the General category candidates is INR 1,000 and for the SC, ST, OBC and PwD category candidates, the fee is INR 500. For participating in the NEET counselling process for Deemed Universities, the registration fee for all category candidates is INR 5,000. The registration fee is non-refundable. On the other hand, candidates will have to pay the tuition fee which is refundable. The amount for the General category candidates for the AIQ seats and Central Universities is INR 10,000. For the reserved category candidates, the amount is INR 5,000. For Deemed Universities, the tuition fee to be paid by all category candidates is INR 2,00,000. Those who would not be allotted a seat after the NEET counselling process will be refunded the tuition fee after the conclusion of the counselling rounds.

Q: Is it necessary to pass in individual sections of NEET?

There will be no sectional qualifying criterion for NEET 2025. NTA releases overall qualifying marks or cutoff marks for each category. The overall marks will be considered while preparing the rank list for NEET. But to ensure a good score, candidates must ensure a high number of attempts with full accuracy. A skewed performance might hamper the overall marks obtained in NEET.

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Paper Leak Cases in Major Exams

In India, no exam is immune to paper leaks. The bigger exams attract wealthier clients for the leaked papers. Apart from NEET, the exams such as the UGC NET 2024, UPTET 2021, SSC CGL 2017 were also cancelled due to paper leak.

None of the exam given above are small in any sense. In SSC CGL, a comparative number of candidates appear every year.

Also Read: How Students Responded to NEET Paper Leak

Irrespective of the mode of exam, the paper gets leaked because personal interest supersedes national interest. Some of the notorious players play with the loopholes of the system and sometimes the money offered is so large that the cutting-edge personnel get attracted towards it and are overpowered by greed.

We cannot term it as a scam, but we can say it is a failure at some nodal points in the whole chain of command. The investigation will tell from where (from which point) the paper got leaked, but yes, it is resulting in a crisis.

Also Read: How will NEET Re Exam will impact the Admissions

The NEET exam is also highlighted more in the media because the Doctor is one of the most respected professionals in Indian society and anything related to the selection process of Doctors gets public scrutiny instantly. Secondly, the JEE Exam and the NEET exam is connected with the nation building because such candidates will serve the society and will become the role models for the upcoming generations.

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