Mandya (Karnataka) [India], July 2 (ANI): A large number of students on Thursday staged a massive protest near the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Karnataka’s Mandya against alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) examination, targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government.
The protest was organised by the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI). Students raised slogans against the Union government, expressing anger over the NEET question paper leak.
Protesters alleged that the leak had caused grave injustice to students and demanded scrapping NEET in favour of the state-run Common Entrance Test (CET) for admissions.
“We don’t want NEET, we want CET,” they chanted.
The students also demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, holding him morally responsible for the irregularities.
“The Centre doesn’t have the capacity to conduct an exam without leaking the paper. How will they protect the country? They are responsible for the deaths of thousands of students,” the protesters said.
They urged the Centre to allow selection of candidates through Karnataka CET and to stop “playing with students’ lives”.
Furthermore, National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) district president Manjunath, Mandya District Congress Committee (MDCC) working president Chidambar MS, state vice president Rafiq Ali, Sathanur Mahesh, and several students took part in the protest.
The demonstration reflected growing outrage among students over repeated irregularities in the NEET exam, with demands for accountability and a return to state-level entrance systems.
The NEET-UG 2026 examination, originally held on May 3, was cancelled following allegations of a paper leak. The Centre subsequently ordered a re-examination, which was conducted on June 21 in pen-and-paper mode under enhanced security arrangements while the investigation into the alleged leak continues.
Meanwhile, Members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education on Wednesday suggested that the NEET-UG be conducted in multiple phases to ease the “logistical burden” of holding the country’s largest entrance examination on a single day, sources told ANI.
Chairperson Mukil Wasnik and other Committee members appreciated the conduct of the re-examination, describing it as “secure and well-managed”. (ANI)
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