Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday criticised the Centre and the National Testing Agency (NTA) after it announced a re-examination of UGC-NET papers for English, Commerce and Sociology, saying students were being made to pay for the agency’s mistakes.
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi said, “Modi ji, look at what your NTA has just done.” He alleged that the agency had set faulty question papers and repeated old questions, forcing thousands of candidates to appear for the exams again in September.
In a post on X, Gandhi said the three UGC-NET papers, held between June 22 and 30, were cancelled nearly two months later due to “factual, typographical and translation errors”.
“Thousands of candidates who prepared for years, filled forms, paid the fees, travelled to distant centres, must now do it all again in September. NTA makes the mistake but the student serves the sentence,” he said.
Gandhi further alleged that the examination system had become an “extraction machine”, claiming that it takes students’ money, years, mental health and confidence without providing adequate returns.
He also questioned whether the papers had been leaked before the examination and demanded accountability from the NTA leadership. Gandhi said former Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation should be “the first step, not the last”.
Meanwhile, a Congress Rajya Sabha MP also questioned the delay in detecting errors in the three papers and asked why results for candidates who appeared in the other 84 subjects had been delayed.
The NTA said it received several complaints regarding errors in the English, Commerce and Sociology question papers. Following a committee’s review, the agency decided to conduct fresh examinations to ensure a “fair and error-free examination.”
The re-examination for English and Commerce will be held on September 9, while Sociology will be conducted on September 10. Candidates will not have to pay any additional fee.
The NTA said the results for the remaining 84 subjects would be declared as scheduled and that the number of available seats would not be reduced.
