The early publications of result of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for undergraduate (UG) medical course 2024 on 4 June, 10 days before it is scheduled to be published, 14 June, has triggered controversy prompting candidates and parents to smell something amiss in the process of conducting the exam this year.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), under the Union education ministry conducts the NEET-UG for candidates aspiring to be doctors in modern medicine.

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Many students from West Bengal, who appeared in the NEET raised questions in connection with transparency in the process of conducting the examination this year. “Why did the NTA publish results on 4 June when the results of the general elections in the country were published? Early publication of the NEET results led to many serious manipulations in assessment of answer scripts,” several candidates and their parents alleged.

They said, “Sixty seven candidates across the country have obtained 100 per cent, 720 in the NEET exam. There are 180 MCQ type questions with four marks each. Candidates will face negative marking if they give wrong answers to each question. For instance, five marks including one mark against each question as negative marking will be deducted for writing the wrong answer.”

Eleven students from Rajasthan have scored 720 out of 720 while Tamil Nadu has eight.

In West Bengal, three students Rupayan Mandal of Berhampore, Arghyadeep Dutta of Salt Lake and Saksham Agarwal of Siliguri have become members of the elite club of 67, who scored 720 numbers.

But some candidates have obtained 719 numbers while some others have 718 numbers fuelling serious controversy.

“There have been serious irregularities in assessment of answer scripts. How did some candidates get 719 or 718 numbers? Is this possible even if a candidate loses five marks (four marks for each question plus one negative mark) for a wrong answer? Therefore, a candidate obtains 715 marks after deducting five marks from the total 720 if he gives the wrong answer. Similarly, 10 marks will be deducted against two wrong answers. In that case, a candidate will get 710 numbers after deducting 10 marks for two wrong answers with five marks each,” said Bablu Jana, father of a candidate Katharup Jana.

“A candidate, who obtained 718 numbers, achieved 68th rank. But how is this possible? Surprisingly, my son, who scored 685 numbers, got 6746 rank. He should have a rank within 1500. There are many other candidates who obtained 671 or little above and achieved ranks 13,000 or more,” Mr Jana, a resident of Amta in Howrah said.

“We are planning to organise a huge protest demanding the NTA to make fresh assessments otherwise many brilliant candidates would be psychologically upset and demoralised if they don’t get berths in government medical colleges despite their outstanding performance in the NEET,” he added.