NEET Row: Congress Holds Protest, Seeks SC-Monitored Probe

The grand old party held a demonstration in Chandigarh, led by Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, against the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam NEET.

Chandigarh: The Congress on Friday held a demonstration here over the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024 examinations and demanded a probe under the supervision of a sitting Supreme Court judge.

Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, who is also Ludhiana MP, led the protest of the state unit against the alleged irregularities in the medical entrance exam NEET.

"We demand a probe under the supervision of a Supreme Court's sitting judge," he said. Warring along with some other Punjab Congress leaders and workers were briefly detained by the police here.

Punjab Congress leader and MP Dharamvira Gandhi said "We are not even allowed to hold a peaceful protest. We wanted to move to the state BJP office to hold a protest there. But police detained us and did not allow us to move there citing imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 144".

"We want justice for students. The issue concerns the future of lakhs of students," he said. The protesters at the site raised slogans against the central government. Chandigarh Youth Congress workers also staged a protest against the alleged irregularities in the exam.

Earlier addressing the gathering of party workers and leaders near the Punjab Congress' state unit office here, Warring hit out at the Narendra Modi government. He said it is not the first time "irregularities" in exams have come to the fore.

"What is the fault of the lakhs of children, whose future is at stake? Parents and their children are worried. But Prime Minister has not spoken a word on this," he said.

Children are the future of any nation, but if such things happen, how will the country move forward, Warring asked. "We may have to fight any battle, go to the Governor, or hold 'dharnas' outside BJP offices, but we will continue this fight.

People have elected seven Lok Sabha MPs from Punjab. We will raise issues of youth strongly as well as of other sections including labourers, farmers," he said.

The examination was held on May 5 across 4,750 centres and around 24 lakh candidates took it. The results were expected to be declared on June 14 but were announced on June 4, apparently because the evaluation of the answer sheets was completed earlier.

There have been allegations of question paper leaks in states like Bihar and other irregularities in the prestigious exam. The allegations have led to protests in several cities and the filing of petitions in several high courts as well as the Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court said that even if there was "0.001 per cent negligence" on the part of anyone in the conduct of the NEET-UG 2024 examination, it should be thoroughly dealt with.

The NEET-UG examination is conducted by the National Testing Agency for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other related courses in the government and private institutions across the country.