NEET-UG 2026: Six Candidates Take OMR Sheet Dispute to Supreme Court Ahead of Counselling

A small group of high-scoring NEET-UG 2026 candidates has taken an unusual step: moving the Supreme Court to flag a mismatch between the answers they say they marked in the exam hall and the OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) sheets later uploaded by the National Testing Agency (NTA). Six candidates, all scoring above 600 out of 720, with some above 650, say they wrote to the NTA and even visited its office about this, but got no reply. Their plea was placed before a bench led by the Chief Justice of India, which has agreed to schedule a hearing. For lakhs of aspirants waiting on the counselling schedule, any pending litigation around exam integrity is worth watching, even when it involves only a handful of candidates.

What exactly are the candidates alleging?

The OMR sheet is the physical answer sheet on which candidates shade circles corresponding to their chosen options during the exam. After the exam, the NTA typically makes scanned copies of these sheets available to candidates so they can verify that their responses were recorded and evaluated correctly.

In this case, six candidates say that when they checked their OMR sheets against what they remember marking during the exam, there were mismatches. Since their scores are high, even a few questions being wrongly recorded could meaningfully shift their rank, which matters a great deal for seat allotment in MBBS and BDS counselling.

The candidates say they first tried to resolve this directly with the NTA through email and an in-person visit, and only approached the court after getting no response.

Where does this stand in court?

The plea was mentioned before a bench comprising the Chief Justice of India and two other judges. The bench has agreed to list the matter for a hearing, meaning no final order or interim relief has been passed yet — the court has simply agreed to examine the issue.

This petition is separate from, but arrives around the same time as, another pending matter where the Supreme Court has asked the government to explain the full journey of the NEET-UG question paper, from printing to the exam hall, in a hearing scheduled separately.

Aspirants should note the difference between a case being 'listed for hearing' and the court actually granting relief. At this stage, there is no order affecting scores, ranks, or the counselling calendar for anyone other than these six candidates.

Context: why this exam has already had a rocky year

NEET-UG 2026 has had an unusually disrupted run. The exam was originally held on May 3 but was cancelled after allegations surfaced of a paper leak. The NTA then conducted a fresh exam on June 21 for affected candidates.

Coming on top of that disruption, this new OMR dispute adds another layer of scrutiny to an already closely watched exam cycle. It doesn't change the fact that results were declared and counselling registration is expected to proceed, but it does mean the exam's conduct is being examined from multiple angles this year.

What this means for you if you're waiting on counselling

If you are not one of the candidates involved in this specific plea, this news does not require you to take any action. Your registration, choice-filling, and seat allotment through the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) for All India quota seats, or your state counselling authority for state quota seats, should continue as per the published schedule unless an official notice says otherwise.

If you have any doubt about your own OMR sheet or scorecard, the safest step is always to raise it with the NTA through its official grievance channels immediately, rather than waiting, since verification requests typically have limited windows attached to specific stages of the exam cycle.

Keep monitoring official NTA and MCC notices rather than relying on rumours about this case spreading on social media or coaching-centre WhatsApp groups. Court proceedings involving a handful of candidates rarely delay counselling for the entire candidate pool, but it's still worth being aware of the hearing date once it is announced.

• No action needed for most aspirants — this plea concerns six specific candidates only.
• If you suspect an error in your own OMR sheet, raise it with the NTA's grievance portal without delay.
• Track official NTA/MCC circulars for the counselling schedule rather than unverified social media claims.
• Remember this is separate from the earlier May 3 paper-leak cancellation and June 21 re-exam, though both point to a turbulent exam cycle this year.

Could this delay NEET-UG 2026 counselling?

Based on the facts available, there is no indication that this particular plea has resulted in, or is likely to result in, a stay on counselling. The bench has only agreed to hear the matter — it has not paused any part of the admission process.

That said, aspirants who follow NEET litigation closely will know that Indian courts have occasionally intervened close to counselling dates in past years when systemic issues were alleged. Since this plea is narrowly framed around six individual candidates' OMR sheets rather than a claim of a wider systemic fault, the more likely outcome is a resolution specific to those six candidates rather than any change to the broader counselling timeline.

Aspirants should treat this as a story to monitor, not a reason to panic or delay their own counselling preparation.

Frequently asked questions

For most NEET-UG 2026 aspirants, this is a case to note and watch rather than worry about — proceed with your counselling registration and document verification as scheduled. If you have a genuine, specific concern about your own OMR sheet, raise it with the NTA through official channels right away instead of waiting to see how this court case unfolds.