3 min readAhmedabadMay 13, 2026 02:59 AM IST
Parents of some NEET aspirants gathered outside premier schools in Rajkot on Tuesday, hours after the government announced the cancellation of the medical entrance exam due to a ‘paper leak’, which was now being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for undergraduate (UG) medical courses, held on May 3, 2026, was cancelled by the National Testing Agency (NTA) after allegations of a paper leak on Tuesday.
Hemal Mehta, a businessman whose daughter had appeared for NEET UG 2026, says re-examination of all students in the country would affect students who had not cheated. “When the paper leak happened only in some states, why are all 24 lakh students paying the price? Why is the government playing with their future? At this rate, if paper leaks are going to happen, why doesn’t the government hold three exams per year and then count the marks of the exam in which the leak didn’t take place? This is gross injustice and can cause depression in students.”
Mehta, whose elder son is a doctor and pursuing a medical specialisation abroad, added, “We appeal to the government to reconsider its decision to hold the exam again for the entire country. We (parents) will be meeting again tomorrow to decide on a further course of action, but when we met today, there was talk of approaching the Supreme Court against this decision, but we are yet to take a final call.”
Meanwhile, Hitesh Makadia, an accountant whose daughter also took NEET UG 2026, had a different take on the issue. His daughter is a student at Modi School in Rajkot. Makadia said, “I believe that re-NEET is the best option for students right now. Our assumption is that my daughter would have scored 668 out of 720 in the May 3 exam, and she became nervous when she heard about the government’s decision to scrap the exam and go for another test. But I advised her that she is smart and will score well in the re-NEET. There is no doubt that it is injustice and the government needs to crack down on those who leaked the paper, but it is only with a re-NEET that people will learn that in spite of leaks, only the best students will score well.”
