Vijay Wants Cancellation Of NEET

Chennai: Making a clear call for cancellation of NEET (National Eligibility and Entrance Test for medical admissions), Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay said that the introduction of the entrance test has severely disadvantaged students from rural areas, Government schools, Tamil medium backgrounds and socio-economically disadvantaged families.

Referring to the cancellation of NEET UG-2026 exam held in 31 cities of Tamil Nadu on May 3, the Chief Minister said that the Tamil Nadu government has consistently and unanimously opposed NEET since its inception.

He reiterated the State’s long-pending demand to abolish NEET and allow States to fill all seats under State quota in MBBS, BDS and AYUSH courses based on Class 12 scores.

He said that the National Testing Agency’s cancellation of the NEET exam this year with the approval of the Union Government, following investigations by law enforcement agencies into the alleged leak of the question paper, is conclusive evidence of flaws and structural flaws in the national-level examination.

The matter has been referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation for an investigation, he said, adding that this is not the first time NEET has been compromised. He said that in 2024, the question paper was leaked and FIRs were registered in six states and handed over to the CBI.

He said that based on directions from the Supreme Court, the Union Government constituted a High Level Expert Committee under the chairmanship of ISRO’s former Chairman K Radhakrishnan and this committee submitted 95 comprehensive recommendations for reforms and despite all this, another document leak occurred within two years.

Vijay said that NEET-UG 2026 was conducted in 5,432 centres, with 22,05,035 candidates appearing for the entrance exam, including around 1.4 lakh candidates from Tamil Nadu, and its cancellation has shattered the hopes of lakhs of medical aspirants.