Former president of BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit, K Annamalai, has raised concerns regarding the high security measures adopted for the upcoming NEET UG re-test. In a post on X, the Tamil leader stated that such measures would only add to the pressure on candidates, rather than decrease them.
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“Two-tier CRPF CISF escort with IAF airlift. 4-layer CCTV with AI surveillance. Biometric & facial recognition before entry. Multiple layers of frisking. Multi-level oversight with direct monitoring from the prime minister’s office. Yes, you read it right. But these are not arrangements to buy high-level, classified, military-grade software. These are the arrangements made by the Ministry of Education for the NEET retest scheduled for June 21, 2026,” he wrote on X.
He added that while students would appreciate orders to prevent paper leaks, the added security for an exam that lasts for three hours would only add to the “already ballooning exam pressure.”
“While the government has taken measures to contain leaks, they have forgotten the additional burden they have imposed on a young student before they take up an assessment, one that they have spent months preparing for, dissolving the entire purpose of our exam system and the NEP 2020’s goal to reduce ‘Exam Stress’,” the former BJP leader wrote further.
The Tamil Nadu leader also flagged that the measures adopted by the Centre may not resolve the issue, but create problems.
Annamalai also flagged the issues candidates are facing while trying to download their NEET UG admit cards for the re-test, a document essential to appear for the medical entrance examination.
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In response to Annamalai, Vinoj P Selvam, the state secretary at BJP’s Tamil Nadu hit back and stated such measures are normal for a large-scale examination.
“China’s Gaokao is taken by over 13 million students every year under some of the world’s strictest examination protocols. Nobody calls it “militarisation” they call it protecting merit,” he wrote on X, adding that students deserve confidence in the system, and the measures implemented for NEET aim to reflect that.
NEET UG retest on June 21
The National Testing Agency (NTA) will conduct the re-examination for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) on June 21.
This re-examination follows the cancellation of the May 3 exam due to a paper leak.
The NEET paper leak, which triggered massive uproar in the country, is currently being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Ahead of the re-test, the Centre announced a series of security measures to ensure a leak does not occur again, including roping in the Indian Air Force to transport the question papers to the respective exam centres.
