Itanagar, May 13: The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) on Wednesday issued a press release sharply condemning the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, calling it a systemic betrayal of lakhs of medical aspirants across the country, and demanding immediate accountability, structural reform of the National Testing Agency (NTA), and a substantial expansion of examination centres within Arunachal Pradesh.

In the release, AAPSU President Meje Taku described the scandal as far graver than an administrative lapse.

“The NEET-UG examination is the sole entrance gateway for medical and dental undergraduate courses in India,” he stated, adding that the compromise of such an examination strikes at the very foundation of meritocracy and public trust in national institutions.

The NTA officially cancelled the examination held on May 3, following widespread allegations that a document containing approximately 410 questions had been circulating on WhatsApp groups between 15 days to a month prior to the exam, with nearly 120 questions from the Chemistry section allegedly matching the actual paper exactly. The cancellation affects over 22.79 lakh registered candidates across India.

The AAPSU release stated that the recurrence of the paper leak — following a similar scandal in NEET-UG 2024 — can no longer be dismissed as an isolated failure. When the same examination is compromised in two consecutive cycles, the union said, it points not to individual wrongdoing alone but to deep structural rot within the examination administration apparatus.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered an FIR under various sections of the BNS, the Prevention of Corruption Act, and the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, and AAPSU demanded that the investigation be completed within a publicly declared, time-bound deadline, with exemplary punishment for all individuals, syndicates, coaching centres, and institutional insiders found to be complicit.

Taku also demanded, through the release, that the Union Education Minister make a full statement of accountability in Parliament, and that the Ministry table a concrete, enforceable reform plan for the NTA — including independent audit of its operations, multi-layered digital and physical security for question paper handling, and mandatory third-party verification of examination conduct.

The union stopped short of demanding the Minister’s resignation but made clear that political responsibility cannot be evaded when the same system fails repeatedly under the same oversight.

On the question of re-examination, Taku made clear that a re-conduct without prior structural reform would amount to repeating a flawed process. AAPSU demanded that the security overhaul be completed and independently verified before any fresh examination date is announced.

The union also called on the government to provide financial reimbursement to aspirants who had already travelled to examination centres and appeared for the now-cancelled test — a demand particularly pointed for students from Arunachal Pradesh, for whom reaching an examination centre is itself an undertaking of considerable expense and physical difficulty.

The release further noted that Arunachal Pradesh spans over 83,000 square kilometres across 26 administrative districts, with mountainous terrain, limited road connectivity, and no reliable public transport infrastructure across large swathes of the state. For NEET 2026, only four cities in Arunachal Pradesh were designated as examination centres: Itanagar/Naharlagun, Basar, Namsai, and Pasighat. Students from Tawang, Anjaw, Dibang Valley, Longding, Tirap, and other remote districts — some of the most geographically isolated communities in India — are compelled to travel for days to reach these centres, incurring costs that many families can ill afford and arriving already physically exhausted before the examination even begins.

Such circumstances not only impose financial burdens on families but also adversely affect the mental and physical well-being of students, potentially impacting their examination performance, the release said.

AAPSU demanded that the NTA immediately designate additional NEET examination centres across Arunachal Pradesh, covering all major district headquarters, including Bomdila, Tawang, Tezu, Ziro, Aalo, Changlang, Deomali, and Roing.

The release noted that this demand is not new — the issue of examination centre allocation has emerged as a recurring concern among students from northeastern and hill states, and the fact that it remains unaddressed year after year amounts to structural discrimination against students from the frontier state.

The union also called for a policy-level commitment from the NTA guaranteeing in-state examination centres for candidates from states classified as geographically challenging — a category Arunachal Pradesh unambiguously qualifies for.

The youth of Arunachal Pradesh, AAPSU stated, ask for nothing beyond what every aspirant in this country is entitled to — a fair examination, a credible process, and an examination centre they can reach without surrendering their health, their savings, or their family’s livelihood.

AAPSU affirmed that it would continue to pursue all available avenues — including representation to the Ministry of Education and mobilisation of student opinion — until these demands are met.