A large group of students on Thursday held a major demonstration near the Deputy Commissioner's office in Karnataka's Mandya, protesting alleged irregularities in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET-UG) and directing their criticism at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government.
The protest was organised by the National Students' Union of India (NSUI), with students raising slogans against the Centre over the alleged NEET question paper leak. Expressing their anger, they claimed that the incident had severely affected the future of thousands of aspirants.
The demonstrators demanded that NEET be scrapped and replaced with the state-run Common Entrance Test (CET) for admissions in Karnataka. Chanting slogans of "We don't want NEET, we want CET," they called for restoring the state's entrance examination system. The protesting students also sought the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, holding him morally accountable for the alleged irregularities surrounding the examination.
"The Centre cannot conduct an examination without the paper being leaked. If it cannot ensure the integrity of an entrance test, how will it safeguard the country? The government is responsible for the deaths of thousands of students," the protesters alleged.
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They urged the Union government to permit admissions through the Karnataka CET and accused it of "playing with the lives of students" by continuing with the present system despite repeated controversies.
Among those who participated in the protest were NSUI district president Manjunath, Mandya District Congress Committee (MDCC) working president Chidambar MS, state vice president Rafiq Ali, Sathanur Mahesh, along with a large number of students.
The demonstration reflected mounting frustration among students over recurring allegations of irregularities in the NEET examination, with protesters demanding accountability and a return to state-level entrance tests for professional course admissions.
The NEET-UG 2026 examination, initially conducted on May 3, was cancelled after allegations of a question paper leak surfaced. The Centre subsequently ordered a fresh examination, which was held on June 21 in pen-and-paper mode under heightened security measures, while the investigation into the alleged leak remains underway.
Meanwhile, members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education on Wednesday recommended that NEET-UG be conducted in multiple phases to reduce the logistical challenges of organising the country's largest entrance examination on a single day, sources told ANI.
Committee chairperson Mukul Wasnik and other members also appreciated the conduct of the re-examination, describing the process as secure, smooth and efficiently managed under the revised arrangements.
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