Subramanian Swamy claims 'only' 8 lakh students wrote JEE, NTA says only 7.6 lakh downloaded admit cards

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy Wednesday said that only 8 lakh out of the 18 lakh who had downloaded the JEE admit card actually sat for the exam. Swamy has been advocating in support of the students protesting to postpone the NEET JEE examination for the past few weeks. He had suggested that the exams be held after Diwali.

This, however, is a bit strange as several reports and data from the Ministery of Education have stated that a total of 7.6 lakh candidates have downloaded the admit cards for JEE Mains and a total of 11.49 lakh students have downloaded their NEET admit cards till August 29. NEET is yet to be held and the entry numbers will be known only on September 13.

Swamy took to Twitter on Wednesday to talk about the attendance at the JEE Mains 2020. "I had the accurate count on how many students took the JEE exams this last week — out (of ) 18 lakhs who downloaded passes only 8 lakhs turned up to take up the exam. What a disgrace for the nation which extols vidya and gyan," said Swamy.

Swamy had earlier claimed that only 51 per cent of the students had appeared for the exam and that that's the figure police have come up with. "So far no official estimates have come. But according to the information from the police, it has not exceeded in any place more than 51 per cent," Swamy told TNIE Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla during a session of e-expressions on Tuesday.

I just accurate count on how many students took the JEE exams this last week: out 18 lakhs who down loaded passes only 8 lakhs turned up to take up the exam. What a disgrace for the nation which extols vidhya and gyan!!

— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) September 9, 2020

Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal took to Twitter hours before Swamy's claim to announce that the "process for result declaration" of JEE has begun and to thank the students, parents and officials for participating in the JEE exams conducted from September 1 to 6. In the same tweet, Pokhriyal said that the results will be out soon. "My heartfelt thanks to all students and parents for reposing trust in the government and participating in #JEEMain exam. Process for result declaration has begun and results will be announced soon," he added. "My sincere thanks to all State Governments and their officials, NTA city coordinators, invigilators, and the entire community of examination functionaries for their overwhelming support to make these exams a success," he wrote.

Three fresh petitions that sought the postponement of the medical entrance examination NEET were dismissed by a Supreme Court bench. The exam will now be held on September 13. The petitions were heard by a bench comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan, M R Shah and  R Subhash Reddy which said that it (bench) "is not inclined". While hearing the petition, Justice Bhushan asked. "Everything is over now. The review has also been dismissed. JEE is also over. How can we consider the petition now?" Justice Shah also noted that all the arrangements have been made by the authorities and that the exam is just a few days away.