A group of candidates from Madhya Pradesh who sat for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2025 have taken their grievances over power cuts during the exam to the Supreme Court. They argue that electricity outages at centres in Indore and Ujjain severely disrupted their performance, and have asked for a fresh opportunity to sit the exam.

This plea comes after the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s division bench declined to allow a re-test. Earlier, a single-judge bench had recognised the merit of the students’ concerns, observing that they were disadvantaged by factors beyond their control and directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct a re-examination. 

It had also suggested that the counselling process be linked to the outcome of this re-test. However, this relief was short-lived as a subsequent appeal brought the matter before a division bench, which overturned the order.

As highlighted by News18, the bench leaned on findings from an expert committee that noted although power cuts did occur, ample natural light was available for candidates to continue their papers. It also stressed that merely 70 of the more than 27,000 test-takers from these two districts had formally raised objections.

NEET UG 2025, which was conducted on May 4, saw a total of 22.09 lakh students appear, out of whom 12.36 lakh qualified when the results were announced on June 14.

As reported by News18, the Supreme Court will formally take up the MP candidates’ matter next week. During the mention before the bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, the petitioners’ counsel pressed for an expedited hearing, given that NEET counselling is slated to commence on July 21. 

The bench, however, declined to advance the hearing, assuring that since multiple counselling rounds are scheduled, students would not lose out if the verdict later favoured them. The top court has meanwhile sought a response from the NTA on the preparedness at these examination centres.