The 18th Lok Sabha commenced today with Members of Parliament taking their oaths one by one, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oath. However, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s oath was met with protests and slogans from opposition leaders in Parliament.
As Dharmendra Pradhan approached to take his oath, INDIA bloc leaders jeered with chants of “NEET,” criticizing the NDA government over alleged irregularities in the exam.
Opposition leaders raised these slogans in the Lok Sabha following nationwide outrage over inflated marking and paper leak allegations in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG).
Earlier, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had attacked the Centre over the NEET-UG 2024 exam irregularities and assured students that his party would address the issue in Parliament.
The first session of the Lok Sabha is expected to be contentious, with the Opposition likely to challenge the BJP-led NDA government on the election of the Speaker, and the allegations of paper leaks in NEET-UG and UGC-NET.
Outrage against the National Testing Agency (NTA) erupted after the agency postponed the NEET-PG exam hours before it was scheduled. Students who had traveled from different states to their exam centers protested, and the decision was criticized by doctor associations and student groups.
The NEET-UG exam, conducted in May, had its results declared on June 4. Due to grace markings at several centers, the scores of hundreds of students were inflated. This year, 67 students achieved a perfect score of 720/720 in the medical entrance test.
Amid these irregularities, the Centre formed a seven-member committee to investigate the NTA’s functioning and suggest examination reforms. The government also replaced NTA DG Subodh Kumar Singh.
The investigation into NEET-UG irregularities and paper leak allegations has been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).