'Why was COEMPT chosen by CBSE?' BJP-exam mafia nexus exposed, says Cong

With the Modi government already facing criticism over a series of examination paper leaks, the Congress on Monday intensified its attack over the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) result controversy, demanding answers from the CBSE and once again seeking the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Congress media and publicity department chairman Pawan Khera alleged that more than 9 crore students had been affected by nearly 90 paper leak incidents during the BJP's tenure, yet neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor the government had accepted responsibility.

"Not a single word of accountability has come from the prime minister. At the very least, the pradhan mantri should immediately remove minister Pradhan," Khera said.

The Congress leader also accused the CBSE of ignoring internal warnings before implementing its nationwide digital evaluation system, the On-Screen Marking (OSM) platform.

According to Khera, a trial run conducted in January had flagged 36 major concerns, including the risk of superficial evaluation, weak moderation mechanisms, inadequate oversight, and serious technical shortcomings. Despite these warnings, the CBSE proceeded with the rollout of the digital valuation system, he alleged.

Questioning the decision-making process behind the implementation, Khera asked who had recommended the system and why concerns raised during the pilot phase were disregarded.

He claimed that the failure of the new evaluation mechanism resulted in thousands of students receiving blurred, incomplete, or unreadable scans of their answer sheets. In several cases, pages were allegedly missing, duplicated, or belonged to other students altogether.

Citing media reports, Khera said that more than 68,000 answer books had to be rescanned, while over 13,500 required manual evaluation after the digital system malfunctioned.

Raising concerns over the tendering process, Khera alleged that CBSE had to issue three separate tenders before finalising a vendor for the On-Screen Marking system. According to him, the first tender reportedly attracted no bidders, while the second failed to produce any technically qualified applicant.

He alleged that tender conditions were repeatedly altered until COEMPT EduTek became eligible for the contract. Among the changes highlighted by the Congress leader were:

• The eligibility criteria were allegedly modified until COEMPT qualified.

• The software quality benchmark was reduced from CMMI Level 5 to Level 3.

• The required scan resolution was lowered from 300 DPI to 200 DPI, potentially affecting readability.

• Mandatory provisions for robotic high-speed scanners were removed.

• Clauses relating to poor past performance, abandoned projects, and financial weaknesses were dropped.

• Blacklisting provisions were diluted from "previously blacklisted" to only "currently blacklisted" entities.

Khera further alleged that instead of addressing the shortcomings, CBSE coordinated what he described as a "scripted defence campaign" through schools and principals using identical talking points to counter criticism.

"COEMPT EduTek received the contract only after technical standards, cybersecurity norms, and eligibility conditions were weakened step by step," he claimed.

Demanding Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation, Khera questioned why COEMPT EduTek was selected over larger and more established firms, including Tata Consultancy Services.

He also raised concerns regarding the company's past, alleging that it had previously operated under the name Globarena and had been associated with controversies.

"Why was the CBSE OSM contract awarded to COEMPT despite its questionable track record? On whose instructions was this done? Why were proper background checks not conducted? What is the relationship between COEMPT's management and the Modi government?" Khera asked.

The Congress maintained that the controversy surrounding the digital evaluation system and the larger issue of examination paper leaks had exposed what it described as the BJP government's failure to safeguard the interests of students and ensure transparency in the conduct of examinations.