NTA warns of legal action over fake, AI-generated OMR sheets amid NEET row

The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday warned students and parents against submitting fake or AI-generated Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets for scrutiny, saying such complaints could invite legal action.The agency said it was closely monitoring all grievances after several OMR sheets submitted for verification were found to be fabricated.The clarification came after the Congress accused the NTA of tampering with a candidate's OMR sheet in the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination.The party alleged that Avneesh Srivastava's answer sheet had been replaced with that of another candidate, Ajit Singh, and shared a video statement by the student's father while criticising Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. "According to the father— the OMR sheet given to their son Avnish Shrivastava by the NTA belongs to some Ajit Singh. Just imagine... what that child must be going through, having been deceived like this? It's clear— NTA is proving to be a failure at every level, but the shamelessness is such that Dharmendra Pradhan, responsible for all this, is clinging to his chair. Shame on them!" Congress tweeted.DISCREPANCIES REPORTED IN VARIOUS PARTS OF INDIAThe NTA's statement also comes amid fresh allegations of discrepancies in the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination results from multiple states. In Maharashtra's Beed district, several students claimed their official scores differed significantly from the marks they had calculated using the final answer key.The family of Soham Gavte, an aspirant, alleged he was expecting 522 marks but received only 95, while Dnyaneshwari Pawar claimed the OMR sheet uploaded under her credentials was not the one she had filled.Her family said she had expected 702 marks based on the final answer key, but her official scorecard reflected only 87 marks.The affected families have demanded an investigation and warned of legal action if the discrepancies are not addressed.Similar concerns have also emerged in Karnataka, where students alleged that the marks reflected in the final results did not match those calculated using the NTA's final answer key. It resulted in significant changes to their ranks.Among them, Vaishnavi Das claimed she lost 10 marks, causing her rank to fall by nearly 2,000 places, while M. Suchita alleged a 25-mark reduction despite matching all her responses with the final answer key.Both students have sought clarification from the NTA, with aspirants calling for greater transparency in the evaluation process.- EndsPublished By: Ritaban MisraPublished On: Jul 19, 2026 00:42 IST