The National Testing Agency (NTA) will hold a retest of the NEET-UG exam for 1,563 candidates at six centers across four states and one Union Territory on Sunday, in response to the ongoing paper leak controversy. Officials from the NTA and the Union Education Ministry will oversee the exam.

Scheduled from 2 pm to 5:20 pm, the retest follows the NTA's withdrawal of previously awarded grace marks given to students due to delays at examination centers in Meghalaya, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, and Chandigarh. The affected students were initially granted grace marks and an option to retake the exam.

The retest was announced amidst allegations of irregularities in the NEET-UG, including paper leaks. Concerns were heightened when six students, along with 61 others, achieved perfect scores of 720, sparking accusations of inflated marks.

A senior NTA official noted, "All examination centers have been changed except for the one in Chandigarh, where only two candidates will appear." To ensure a smooth process, officials from both the NTA and the Union Education Ministry will be present at these centers.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan recently addressed the issue, stating that cancelling the NEET exams would jeopardize the futures of many students who passed the exam legitimately, despite isolated incidents of malpractice.

Additionally, the NEET-PG exam, initially scheduled for today, has been postponed as a precautionary measure to maintain the exam's integrity. The Ministry of Health announced a comprehensive review of examination processes to ensure their robustness and fairness, with a new date to be announced soon.

This follows the earlier cancellation of the UGC-NET exam due to a paper leak on the darknet, highlighting ongoing concerns about the security and integrity of competitive examinations in India.