Congress seeks Pradhan’s resignation, disbanding of NTA over UGC-NET leak allegations

The Congress on Thursday (July 9, 2026) intensified its attack on the union government over alleged irregularities in the UGC-NET examination, demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the disbanding of the National Testing Agency (NTA).

The Opposition party’s attack came after allegations surfaced that the Sociology paper in the UGC-NET held on June 30 had been leaked. 

Congress communication chief Jairam Ramesh, sharing a media report on X, said the alleged leak had exposed the hollowness of the government’s claim that shifting examinations to a computer-based test (CBT) format would curb malpractice.

“Days after the NEET-UG exam was leaked in May 2026, ‘Mantri Pradhan’ announced that NEET would be conducted in CBT mode from next year, implicitly suggesting that a computer-based examination could not be leaked,” Mr. Ramesh said, adding, “Now there are reports that the UGC-NET Sociology examination appears to have been leaked despite being a CBT.”

He also referred to earlier complaints regarding the UGC-NET English examination, in which questions were allegedly lifted from past papers without change, and charged that the problem lay not in the mode of examination but in a “compromised” Education Ministry and a “deliberately incompetent and incapacitated” NTA.

“The Mantri Pradhan must resign and the NTA must be disbanded,” Mr. Ramesh said.

A day earlier, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi had also alleged serious irregularities in the UGC-NET examination, citing reports that a 100-page PDF linked to question paper setting had been circulated before the test and that nearly 90 questions matched the actual Sociology paper.