Published May 12, 2026 | 4:10 PM ⚊ Updated May 12, 2026 | 4:30 PM
Representational image. Credit: iStock
Synopsis: NEET UG 2026’s cancellation has left students across India reeling. Aspirants like Ramcharan, Akshaya, Lokesh, and Banny voiced frustration, resilience, and urgency as years of preparation were upended. Doctors’ associations condemned systemic failures, warning of compromised healthcare if corruption persists. Political leaders attacked government accountability. NTA promised automatic registration carryover, refunds, and stricter re-exam measures.
Ramcharan Porika from Warangal had scored around 500 marks. He knew it. He had done the calculations, checked the expected cut-offs, and allowed himself to feel something close to relief after years of grinding and nearly two lakh rupees spent on coaching for a year.
Then 12 May, 2026 happened.
“I felt very bad because I could’ve scored around 500 marks in the exam,” he said, the disappointment still raw. He is careful not to entirely blame the system.
In Telangana, he believes, the exam was conducted fairly. “In our state, the exam was fair. In other states, the paper was leaked and it became unfair,” he told South First.
But fair or not in his state, the result is the same. He is back to square one. His one request to the authorities is modest, almost heartbreaking in its restraint: “If they give us 45 to 50 days for preparation, it will be better for us.”
Then he said something that cut through all the political noise and official statements of the day. “NEET is completely becoming a commercial exam day by day. If rich students can buy papers, then poor students like us cannot become doctors.”
Also Read: NEET UG-2026 cancelled after paper leak row: CBI probe ordered, re-test date awaited
Akshaya had taken a year off specifically for this exam. One full year, no detours. She sat the 3 May paper and walked out feeling good about it, genuinely good, perhaps for the first time.
“I was really happy after the exam because I had attempted it very well. Compared to 2025, this paper was easier, and I felt confident,” she says.
When the cancellation came, her first instinct was anger, and it was directed not at the system in the abstract, but at the geography of the leak.
“The paper was leaked in Rajasthan, and I don’t know why everyone has to write the exam again because of that. It feels unfair for students who worked hard for two or three years.”
But she is not falling apart. She is recalibrating. “We cannot do anything now because the decision has already been taken. We just have to revise smartly and attempt the exam again.”
She did note, with a slight edge, that the extra time before the re-exam might end up helping students who had not finished their syllabus. The implication hangs in the air: those who were prepared are now waiting for those who were not.
For Lokesh, this was his third attempt at NEET UG. Three years of his life, three cycles of preparation, anxiety, and exam halls. He thought this one was done.
“The paper was very easy this time. I was actually confident that I would get a seat,” he said while speaking to South First.
He is not angry about the cancellation. He has thought it through, and he arrives at the same conclusion the NTA did, though from a completely different direction. The leak, he explains, does not just affect students in Rajasthan. It contaminates the entire system, warping marks and cut-offs that determine who gets into AIIMS, who gets an All India Quota (AIQ) seat, who becomes a doctor.
“Many students think the leak happened elsewhere, so why should it affect Telangana students? But it affects the AIQ. When it comes to AIIMS and other national institutes, everyone gets affected,” he said.
His ask is simple and urgent: “I want it to happen as soon as possible because the more it gets delayed, the more stressful and complicated it becomes.”
Three attempts in, he cannot afford for this to drag on.
Not everyone is broken by the news. Banny Passigada is almost philosophical about it. “I feel I can write the exam again. I think I can do better this time,” he told South First.
Asked about the cancellation itself, he was straightforward: “If the paper was leaked, then cancelling it is okay. I don’t know what other students are thinking, but that is how I feel.”
It is a reminder that among 22 lakh students, there is no single reaction, no uniform devastation. Some are furious, some are recalibrating, some are ready to run the race again.
Dr. Karthik Nagula of the Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association put into words what many students feel but cannot fully articulate: the system keeps failing, and it is always the students who absorb the cost.
“Every time there is a controversy around NEET, some people try to benefit from paper leaks or malpractice, and eventually the examination gets cancelled. Then the NTA conducts the exam again with stricter measures,” he said.
“Students prepare themselves mentally for one examination date. When the exam is cancelled and another date is announced, they are left uncertain about when it will happen and what kind of paper they will face.”
He also flagged that the sheer scale of the matching questions puts this beyond the realm of routine coaching institute prediction.
“Coaching institutes do conduct pre-final or predictive tests based on assumptions, which is normal. But if around 100 or more questions are matching, then it definitely becomes suspicious.”
The anger in the medical community goes well beyond measured statements.
FAIMA, the federation representing resident doctors across the country, did not mince words: “Our hearts go out to the lakhs of students who put their lives on hold for NEET UG 2026, only to be met with systemic negligence. We will not stay silent while guess papers and mafias decide who becomes a doctor. Exemplary punishment is the only way forward.”
Dr. Lakshya Mittal, Chairperson of the United Doctors Front, framed the crisis in terms that reach far beyond the exam hall. Cancelling the exam, he argued, is only the beginning of what needs to happen.
“This is not the first time that serious allegations and irregularities have surfaced regarding NEET examinations. Repeated incidents over the years clearly indicate the existence of a deep-rooted nexus and systemic failure which cannot be ignored any longer.”
He drew a direct line between corrupt admissions today and compromised healthcare tomorrow.
“The students entering medical colleges today will become tomorrow’s doctors. If undeserving candidates enter medical education through corruption and fraudulent means, it will ultimately compromise patient safety and the quality of healthcare in India.”
Dr. Mittal demanded that no one be shielded, regardless of their standing. “Every individual involved in this scam must be identified and arrested immediately, irrespective of their status or position. Whether it is any high-profile politician, bureaucrat, middleman, doctor, coaching mafia, or any other person connected directly or indirectly with this racket, strict action must be taken without any political or administrative protection.”
Also Read: Between merit and empty seats: how India’s NEET-PG became a crisis of competing imperatives
On the political front, Dr. M. Rajeev, TPCC Medical and Health Wing State Chairman, was scathing. He coined a phrase that is already circulating on social media: “Double engine sarkar, double time NEET paper leak.”
He did not stop at the leak itself. Dr. Rajeev raised a wider alarm about what he described as the systematic weakening of medical education standards under the current government.
“The Centre has already been diluting NMC regulations and granting permissions to medical colleges indiscriminately without maintaining proper medical standards, thereby not only endangering medical education but also putting people’s lives at risk in the future.”
On the scale of the leak, he cited figures that are staggering even by the standards of previous NEET controversies.
“The official confirmation of the NEET paper leak, along with reports that 135 out of 180 questions were leaked, has become a blot on the country’s education system,” he said.
He was unambiguous about where the accountability rests. “Since the NTA, which conducts the NEET examination, functions under the central government, the entire responsibility for this incident lies with the latter.”
For students dreading the paperwork of starting over, NTA has confirmed that no fresh registration is needed. Exam centre choices, candidature data, and registration details will all carry forward. Fees already paid will be refunded and no additional charge will be levied. The new date will be announced through official channels.
“The effort and integrity of the very large majority of bona-fide aspirants is not in question, and will not be devalued,” the agency said.
For Ramcharan, who spent Rs 2 lakh a year and scored 500 marks only to be told to start again, those words will need to be backed by something more concrete than a press release.
The re-examination date cannot come soon enough. And for the first time in this whole sorry episode, that is one thing students, doctors, and perhaps even the NTA can agree on.
