On Tuesday, the Allahabad High Court dismissed a petition by a NEET-UG aspirant who alleged that the National Testing Agency (NTA) failed to declare her result and that her OMR answer sheet was torn. The court determined that the petitioner, Ayushi Patel from Lucknow, had submitted forged documents.
“NTA can take legal action in the matter,” stated Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan in his order. The NTA informed the court that it had already decided to pursue legal action against Patel.
The court’s decision came after the NTA, following the court’s directive, presented the student’s original OMR answer sheet, which was found to be intact.
BJP Criticizes Priyanka for Backing Aspirant’s Claim Ayushi’s dramatic allegation intensified calls for the cancellation of the NEET-UG exam and was supported by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, who used the claim to criticize the Modi government. With the High Court ruling Ayushi’s claim to be false, the BJP criticized Priyanka and demanded an apology. “You remember this tweet by Priyanka Vadra, here is how Congress peddles fakery,” said party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla, labeling Congress as “jhooth ki dukaan.”
In her petition filed earlier this month, Ayushi claimed that the NTA had communicated that her result would not be declared because her OMR sheet was torn. She demanded manual evaluation of her OMR sheet, a halt to admissions counseling while her petition was pending, and an inquiry into the NTA. Ayushi also claimed she should have scored 715 marks out of 720, while her actual score was 335.
Presenting the OMR sheet, scorecard, and attendance sheet, the NTA stated that the petitioner’s application number was 240411340741, which was signed by Ayushi herself. However, she had been sending emails using the application number 240411840741, altering one digit.
After examining the documents, the court concluded that Ayushi’s petition was based on forged documents. It called the situation “regrettable” and stated that the NTA was free to pursue legal action.
Before approaching the High Court, Ayushi had released a video with her claims, which gained political attention after Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi shared it and criticized the NTA. However, on June 12, the NTA clarified that Ayushi’s paper was intact and accused her of forgery, noting her actual score was lower than claimed.
“No torn OMR answer sheet was sent from any official NTA email, and the actual OMR is available and not torn. Moreover, all results are available online,” an official stated.