Education Minister Pradhan directs officials to ensure secure, seamless conduct of NEET-UG re-exam

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on May 19 asked officials to strengthen security and monitoring measures ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination, scheduled to be held on June 21, following the cancellation of the earlier test over alleged irregularities.

Chairing a high-level review meeting, Pradhan directed authorities to ensure the medical entrance examination is conducted with complete transparency and without any procedural lapses.

Officials said the minister instructed departments to address all shortcomings identified during the previous examination process.

“The minister emphasized that the Re-NEET examination must be conducted in a secure, seamless, and foolproof manner under stringent security protocols,” officials said after the meeting.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) had canceled the NEET-UG exam conducted on May 3 after allegations of irregularities and paper leaks surfaced. More than 22 lakh candidates had appeared for the examination.

During the review, Pradhan instructed officials to coordinate with district magistrates and superintendents of police across states to strengthen monitoring and security arrangements at examination centers.

Officials said the minister also stressed that vigilance at test centers should remain uncompromised and asked authorities to ensure students are provided with essential facilities, including transportation support, drinking water, and other basic arrangements.

The NTA has allowed candidates to modify their preferred examination city if there has been a change in their current address. Students can update their preferences through the official NTA and NEET portals until May 21.

Candidates may select first and second preferred cities, while those who do not make changes will retain their earlier choices.

Authorities clarified that no other corrections in application forms will be permitted after the deadline.

The agency has also announced that fees paid for the canceled examination will be refunded, and students will not be charged any additional amount for appearing in the re-examination.

NEET-UG 2026 will continue to be conducted in offline mode in 13 languages, including English, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Urdu, and Marathi. Candidates will receive an additional 15 minutes for examination formalities, and the test will be held from 2 pm to 5:15 pm.

NTA said city intimation slips, admit cards, and other examination-related updates are likely to be released by June 14 on the official website.

Pradhan had earlier announced that NEET-UG would shift to a Computer-Based Test format from next year onward in response to concerns linked to examination irregularities.

Students and parents have been advised to rely only on official NTA communication channels for updates related to the re-examination process.