Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday categorically rejected allegations of a paper leak in the state, asserting that not a single competitive exam question paper has been leaked during his four-and-a-half-year tenure. Addressing a state-level function in Zirakpur near Chandigarh to honour 882 government school students who qualified the NEET-UG 2026 examination, Mann indirectly responded to opposition parties including the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Congress, and BJP, who have accused the state government of a multi-crore scam in the pharmacy officers' recruitment test.
Pharmacy Exam Cheating Incident
Mann acknowledged a recent incident of cheating in the pharmacy officers' recruitment test held on July 19, where 7,000 aspirants competed for 454 posts across 25 centres in Faridkot, Kotkapura, and Ferozepur. However, he emphasised that the cheaters were caught within 10 minutes of the exam starting. “Just 10 minutes after the exam started, the cheaters, violators and those who had copied were caught and are in jail now,” he said.
Opposition leaders have demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter. BJP National General Secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Chugh alleged that question papers were sold openly for Rs 10-15 lakh and accused the state police of trying to whitewash the situation. “Punjab education minister Harjot Singh Bains must also resign,” Chugh said.
NEET-UG Results and Student Honours
The CM congratulated 660 girls and 222 boys—a total of 882 students—for their achievement in the NEET-UG exam. He noted that if the NEET-UG paper had not been leaked nationally, the number of successful Punjab students would have crossed 1,000. “If the NEET-UG paper had not been leaked, then this figure of Punjab students would have crossed 1000,” Mann remarked.
He lamented that many students could not appear for the re-examination of NEET due to the leak. “It is very unfortunate that these important examination question papers were leaked in our country in 2017, 2019, 2022, 2024 and 2026. It breaks the hearts of the students. 22 children of the country who committed suicide will never come back and their family’s loss cannot be repaid with compensation,” he said.
Protests and Calls for Reform
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leader Abhijeet Dipke paid homage to the 22 students who died by suicide, at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Saturday, following the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The 36-day CJP protest in New Delhi saw large participation from Gen Z, including many from Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh, demanding reforms in the education sector and the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The controversy highlights ongoing concerns about examination integrity and the need for systemic changes to prevent future leaks and restore student confidence.
