NTA rejects viral NEET-UG OMR claims, alleges digital tampering

The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Monday rejected claims made by several NEET (UG) 2026 candidates regarding discrepancies in their OMR answer sheets, stating that images circulating on social media had been digitally manipulated and did not correspond with the agency's official records.

In a series of statements posted on X, the NTA said it had examined the records of candidates including Avaneesh Srivastava, Abhay Yadav, Lakshya Singh and Arya Singh and found that their declared scores were accurate.

Addressing claims relating to Avaneesh Srivastava, the agency said the original OMR sheet was securely on record and had been shared with the candidate through the registered email address during the response key challenge window.

According to the NTA, the image circulating online was not an official OMR sheet. It alleged that the candidate's original answer sheet had been digitally modified using artificial intelligence or optical character recognition (OCR)-based tools, with identity details replaced by those of a non-existent candidate. The agency said Srivastava's score of 337 marks had been verified and remained unchanged.

Responding to allegations by Abhay Yadav, who claimed he had left only five questions unanswered and was entitled to a substantially higher score, the NTA said its records showed otherwise.

The agency stated that Yadav had left 44 of the 180 questions unanswered and that both the OMR sheet and the evaluation record were consistent. His score of 164 marks, it said, had been correctly calculated.

The NTA also dismissed claims made by Lakshya Singh, saying the OMR image shared online had been digitally altered by adding response markings that did not exist on the genuine answer sheet.

According to the agency, Singh attempted only 54 questions, answering 34 correctly and 20 incorrectly, while leaving 126 questions unanswered. His score of 116 marks was confirmed as accurate.

In the case of Arya Singh, the agency said the circulated OMR sheet had also been manipulated. It alleged that even the invigilator's recorded signing time had been altered, along with several other elements of the document.

The NTA said Singh's score of 167 marks had been verified and that no discrepancy was found.

Responding to the broader controversy surrounding OMR sheets, the agency reiterated that the original answer sheet of every candidate was securely maintained in its records and that the images being circulated online were fabricated.

It also warned that creating or sharing forged OMR sheets constitutes an offence under the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, and said legal action could be initiated against individuals responsible for generating or circulating such documents.

With IANS inputs