Bengaluru, May 21: Youth Congress members on Thursday staged a protest here over the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG medical entrance exam, demanding accountability from the central government.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, AICC general secretary in-charge of the state Randeep Singh Surjewala, along with ministers and senior leaders, participated in the demonstration held at Freedom Park here.
At the protest, Karnataka Higher Education Minister MC Sudhakar announced that the state will go ahead with allotment of seats for engineering and other courses, delinking this process with NEET.
During the protest, Siddaramaiah and Surjewala, along with other leaders, were seen releasing a T-shirt captioned “PM is compromised”, while some leaders were also seen holding T-shirts with the caption “I am cockroach”.
The protest, organised under the leadership of Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress State President Manjunath Gowda, witnessed protesters holding placards demanding accountability over the paper leak and raising slogans against the Centre.
Addressing the gathering, Siddaramaiah alleged that the BJP government at the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and states where the party is in power, was incapable of even conducting examinations properly, “let alone governing the country.”
“It has repeatedly been proven that apart from spreading hatred to win votes, they have no expertise in anything else,” he claimed.
Recalling instances of paper leaks during previous BJP governments in Karnataka under B S Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai, Siddaramaiah said irregularities and corruption had surfaced in recruitment examinations, including Sub-Inspector and engineer recruitment tests.
“For the first time in the state’s history, an ADGP-rank police officer went to jail,” he said.
The chief minister said that NEET question paper leaks had occurred in 2016, 2021, 2024 and now again in 2026.
“Between 2004 and 2014, during the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh, national-level medical admissions were conducted through the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT). Not once was there a paper leak,” he said.
Before NEET was introduced in 2016, each state conducted its own Common Entrance Test (CET), he said.
“Karnataka conducted one of the best CETs and selected students fairly for medical courses,” the CM said, alleging that the Modi government had “destroyed” the federal structure by introducing NEET despite education being on the Concurrent List of the Constitution.
Demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, he also sought compensation for the families of students who allegedly died by suicide following the paper leak controversy.
“Those responsible for the paper leak leading to the suicide of students should be treated as murderers and punished accordingly,” he said.
Calling for the scrapping of the NEET system, Siddaramaiah said, “It should be abolished immediately and authority should be given to states to conduct CET exams for admissions to medical colleges. The PM must hold discussions with all political parties to resolve the issue, apologise to the nation for the NEET fiasco and dismiss the officials responsible.”
Reiterating the Congress government’s demand to revert to the pre-NEET system, Minister Sudhakar said that since 2023, counselling for medical and other courses has happened together.
“This time, we’ve decided not to wait for NEET [results]. Keeping the interests of students in mind, we’ll go ahead with counselling for engineering and other courses,” he said.
Counselling for engineering seats will begin after the CET results, which are likely to be declared next week.
Meanwhile, Surjewala attacked the BJP-led NDA government, accusing it of “collapsing” the education system, citing instances of various paper leaks while pointing out its “systemic failure” in conducting national-level examinations.
“For the last 12 years, the Modi government has handed over India’s education system to an education mafia and paper leak mafia,” he alleged.
Surjewala further alleged that multiple recruitment and entrance examinations had been compromised over the years under the Modi government, including NEET and other competitive tests.
Referring to past controversies, he said incidents such as the Vyapam case and alleged leaks in recruitment exams reflected what he called a “pattern of failure” in the examination system.
“If thieves are going to control the NEET system in NTA, then who is going to protect the future of our youth,” he asked.
The Congress leader also questioned the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA), alleging irregularities in paper setting and examination conduct, referring to the arrests made by CBI in the case.
He demanded answers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the alleged paper leak.
Later, as the protesters attempted to march towards the Lok Bhavan, they were stopped and detained by the police. They even tried to cross the barricades that had been erected.
The NEET (UG) 2026 examination for admission to undergraduate medical courses, held on May 3, was cancelled two days later amid allegations of paper leak.
The Centre has asked the CBI to conduct a comprehensive probe into the alleged irregularities in the examination.
