Candidates who faced a power outage while attempting the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2025 at centres in Indore and Ujjain will now get another chance to write the exam, thanks to a directive by the Madhya Pradesh High Court. 

The court’s decision, as reported by LiveLaw, follows a series of petitions filed by affected students, who argued that the disruption placed them at an unfair disadvantage.

Hearing these pleas, Justice Subodh Abhyankar concluded that intervention was warranted under Article 14 of the Constitution of India. The court highlighted that these students were forced into a difficult position through no fault of their own, as the blackout unevenly impacted test-takers. 

Even within the same centre, some were seated where natural light compensated for the outage, while others struggled in dim conditions.

To illustrate the impact, the bench even turned off the lights in its own courtroom during proceedings. The limited daylight filtering through the courtroom’s large windows provided some visibility. However, the judge noted that many examination centres lacked such windows, underscoring the hardship students must have endured.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), which administers NEET-UG, has now been directed to conduct a fresh exam for these petitioners. As clarified by LiveLaw, the ranks of these candidates will be determined solely on the basis of the re-test. 

Additionally, the court made it clear that counselling and seat allocation processes for these students would hinge on the outcome of their new scores.

However, this relief applies strictly to those who filed petitions before June 3, 2025, the date when the provisional answer key was published. By restricting eligibility in this way, the court effectively ensured that only those who acted promptly to challenge the irregularities would benefit.