The Aam Aadmi Party has urged the Supreme Court to appoint a high-level special investigation team (SIT) under its supervision to probe the irregularities in the recently announced NEET result to save the future of nearly 24 lakh candidates who appeared in the test.
The AAP has also demanded that the BJP should apologise to the youth of the country that this should not have happened and those found guilty behind these irregularities will get the harshest punishment.
Addressing the media here today, senior AAP leader Shri Jasmine Shah said since the results of the pre-medical NEET exam came out on June 4, there is a lot of anger and resentment among the youth across the country. “Many types of irregularities have come to the fore regarding the NEET results, which are unprecedented in the history of the country’s competitive exams. Today the youth of the country are asking such big questions to the Bharatiya Janata Party and its central government, which have never been asked till date. This is a very sad incident,” he said.
Giving chronology of the irregularities that started from conduct of the NEET 2024 exam to the announcement of the result, Shri Jasmine Shah said a nearly 24 lakh candidates appeared for the NEET exam at 5000 centres across the country on May 5. One incident each of paper leak came to light in Bihar and Gujarat. Bihar police immediately arrested 13 people and three people were arrested in Gujarat in connection with the NEET exam. “But after these incidents, till date, neither the central government nor the governments of these two states have told whether the paper was leaked or how many people had received the leaked paper. No clarification has come on this. The National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducts NEET is completely silent on this matter. So, on the one hand, you have arrested people and on the other hand, you are not even saying whether the paper has been leaked or not,” he said, adding that since then, questions started being raised on the NEET 2024 exam.
The senior AAP leader said when the results of the NEET exam came out on June 4, whatever doubts were there (about the fairness of exam) were completely dispelled. It seems that such a big mess has never happened with the future of the youth of the country before. We feel that there have not been only irregularities in the NEET examination, a very big scam has happened. For the last four days, the youth of the country are discussing only one issue that how can such irregularities take place in the results.
Pointing out the irregularities in the NEET 2024 results, Shri Jasmine Shah said the first irregularity is that in the exam in which usually two or three toppers used to be declared every year, this year 67 toppers got 720 out of 720 marks. “Hundred percent marks have never been obtained by so many children in any competitive exam in the history of the country, but they got it in the NEET exam. If we talk about the previous years, only two candidates got full marks in 2023, 4 candidates were declared toppers in 2022 and three candidates were declared toppers in 2021. But suddenly 67 toppers,” he said.
The senior AAP leader said secondly, it also shows that out of the 67 toppers, six toppers came out from a centre in Jhajjar, Haryana. This is also happening for the first time in the country that in the exam in which 24 lakh candidates appeared in 5000 centres, 67 toppers came out, and 6 toppers came out from the same centre. The remaining toppers, that is, 61 toppers, all come from one centre each, but 6 toppers come from Jhajjar centre alone, he added.
Expressing surprise over the choice of examination centre by some candidates, Shri Jasine Shah said there are many students in this Jhajjar centre who instead of taking exam at the examination centres in their home states, came down here to appear in the exam. “You all must know that in these big competitive examinations, every candidate prefers the nearest centre to his home, no candidate goes from one state to another to take the exam, that is why 5000 centres were opened for the exam. But candidates from other states come to Jhajjar and from there they are saying that not only six toppers, but there are also many more students among the top 100 who come from this Jhajjar centre,” he said.
The senior AAP leader said such a scoring pattern is coming out which is beyond comprehension. In NEET examination, every question has four marks, if you give the wrong answer then it is -1. But there are many students who have got 719 marks, 718 marks. “Such marks have been obtained which do not even fit in mathematical calculations, all those candidates who took the exam are shocked that how some students get such marks which are beyond comprehension,” he said.
Shri Jasmine Shah said unable to answer so many questions, the NTA finally came up with a plea that it had given grace marks as per their formula to some students who had lost some time in the examination. Now this response raises more questions about the NTA because there is no provision of grace marks in the guidelines of the NTA, there is no formula. So, the NTA suddenly says that we have given grace marks to students of only some centres, four or five centres of four states. How did they decide this, what was its formula?
The senior AAP leader said when the question was asked of NTA that how many children got grace marks, it was found that 1563 children got grace marks and among them there are some children who got up to 100 marks in grace. “This has not happened in any competitive exam in the history of the country, this is a big scam, a big conspiracy. And due to this, the children who got grace marks are getting ahead in the merit list. The children, who have not got grace marks and solely banked on their hard work, find those, who got grace marks, far ahead. Their hard work of years got wasted,” he said.
Shri Jasmine Shah said ever since the youth of the country is asking this question to the Bharatiya Janata Party and its central government, the entire BJP is silent. Their future is being ruined, but the Bharatiya Janata Party is silent. This is a very serious incident because such serious questions have never been raised on the structure of competitive exams of the country before today, he said.
“The BJP always used to say that we will make India Vishwa Guru (World Leader) but today the whole world is seeing that how these NEET and JEE exams, which the whole world observes keenly, are being conducted. Today the whole world is seeing how the Bharatiya Janata Party which talks about making India Vishwa Guru (World Leader) is not able to conduct a competitive exam in a proper manner. Today, due to these actions of the central government, due to their silence, due to their non-transparent actions, I am saying with great sadness that the credibility of the entire competitive exam system of the country, the structure of the examination system has decreased. This is a very serious issue, a very sad issue,” said Shri Jasmine Shah.
The senior AAP leader said but this is not the first time that papers are being leaked under the supervision of the BJP, questions are being raised on the credibility of the examination. The BJP has a long history. Their (BJP) government has been in Gujarat for more than 25 years and in Gujarat they say that paper leak is an organized crime. In the last 11 years, papers have been leaked 11 times in Gujarat. This is the same Bharatiya Janata Party which claims to take the country to new heights and even in their Gujarat these people are not able to conduct the paper examination properly. Panchayat Junior Clerk examination was held in Gujarat in January 2023, 10 lakh candidates were to appear, the paper got leaked, their future is in the dark. In November 2019, the paper of Gujarat Subordinate Services Board Exam was to be held, that too got leaked, there were 6 lakh candidates whose future went into the dark. A total of 11 such papers have been leaked in Gujarat in the last 11 years, he added.
Talking about the history of paper leaks in Uttar Pradesh, Shri Jasmine Shah said if we talk about UP, here also the double engine government of BJP claims to have done a lot. Data shows that in UP also as recently as in February 2024, the paper of police constable recruitment examination was leaked, there were 48 lakh young candidates there. Think what must have happened to them, what must have happened to their families who were waiting for years with the hope that our son, our daughter is preparing for the exam, and they will definitely get a job. In 2021 also, there was a teacher eligibility test in Uttar Pradesh, in that too the paper was leaked, the future of 21 lakh candidates went into darkness. “This has been the history of BJP, forget about strengthening the entire system of competitive exams, they have only and only worked to weaken it,” he said.
The senior AAP leader said one big thing that is coming out is that all the allegations that are being made, all the irregularities on NEET exam are being found in the BJP ruled states. You should pay attention to this thing, the first issue of paper leak comes from Patna, whose government is in Patna, NDA government, BJP government. The second paper leak case comes from Gujarat, there is an organised crime industry in Gujarat, every year a lot of papers are leaked, so NEET paper was also supposed to be leaked, there too there is BJP government. The biggest questions that are arising from Jhajjar centre of Haryana, under whose government is Haryana, under BJP. “So somewhere it is becoming clear that this is not a small scam, it is being seen that some scam is happening with the cooperation of BJP ruled governments or with the nexus with the BJP leaders,” he said.
Shri Jasmine Shah said on behalf of Aam Aadmi Party, I want to tell the youth of the country that we are with you in your fight, we know that many youth have gone to the Supreme Court because the government has stopped responding, has maintained silence. We stand with the youth of the country in their fight for their future, we will support them with full strength as much support as we can.
“Secondly, we ask the honourable Supreme Court to take cognizance of this matter, there should be a high level investigation in this entire scam, an SIT should be formed under the supervision of the Supreme Court. If any investigation is done by the BJP police or the BJP’s CBI, then the country has no faith in it today, they will only work to save the people of the BJP. We demand that the scam has been so big that the future of 25 lakh youth has been played with, so an SIT should be formed under the supervision of the Supreme Court and the truth should come out,” he said.
The senior AAP leader demanded that the BJP should apologise to the irate youth of the country who are upset with the irregularities that happened during the NEET 2024 examination that this should not have happened and those who are found guilty behind these irregularities will get the harshest punishment.
