New Delhi, August 17, 2026: Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has strongly criticised the National Testing Agency (NTA) after three UGC-NET June 2026 papers were cancelled and scheduled for re-examination.
The NTA has ordered fresh examinations for English, Commerce and Sociology after an expert committee identified multiple problems in the question papers, including factual, language and translation errors. The re-examinations are scheduled for September 9 and 10, 2026, with no additional examination fee for affected candidates.
Reacting to the decision, Rahul Gandhi targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NTA in a post on X, saying that the agency's mistakes were forcing thousands of students to repeat the examination process.
Gandhi argued that candidates had spent years preparing for the exam, paid application fees and travelled to examination centres, only to be asked to appear again because of errors in the question papers. He questioned why students should bear the consequences of mistakes made by the examination agency.
Three UGC-NET Papers to Be Re-Conducted
According to the NTA's decision, the English and Commerce examinations will be held again on September 9, while the Sociology examination will take place on September 10. The re-examination follows complaints from candidates and an internal review of the disputed papers.
The controversy has once again raised questions over the reliability and quality-control mechanisms of national-level competitive examinations conducted by the NTA.
Rahul Gandhi has also demanded accountability from the agency's leadership, arguing that students should not have to
The UGC-NET examination is conducted to determine eligibility for Assistant Professor appointments, Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and PhD admissions. With the latest re-examination order, affected candidates are now preparing for another round of the examination in September.
The issue is likely to remain politically contentious as opposition parties continue to demand greater transparency and accountability in the country's examination system.
