After the Madhya Pradesh High Court rejected a re-exam for students hit by a power cut in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test - Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2025, the affected candidates are pinning their hopes on the Supreme Court, saying their futures should not be written off as “bad luck”
To recall, the Supreme Court is set to hear a plea filed by NEET-UG 2025 candidates who were affected by a power outage during the exam in Madhya Pradesh. The candidates are challenging a recent Madhya Pradesh High Court division bench order that overturned a directive for a re-test.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi assured that the matter would be taken up next week, noting that NEET counselling is scheduled to begin on July 21 and that several rounds would follow, allowing room for relief if granted.
Speaking to EdexLive, an affected candidate and one of the petitioners in the matter, shared, on the condition of anonymity, “All students were supposed to get three hours to attempt the exam, but for us, over an hour was wasted due to the power outage.”
The student, who appeared for her second attempt at NEET-UG this year, added, “The final hour is the most crucial. We are expected to manage our time, write the paper, and proofread our answers. But it was pitch dark; we could barely see.”
Not just bad lack
During an earlier hearing on July 10, the MP High Court orally acknowledged the distress and mental toll experienced by candidates affected by the power outage. However, it went on to term the incident as a matter of “hard luck” and “bad luck”, asserting that not all 22 lakh candidates who appeared for the exam could be selected.
Notably, drawing an analogy and referring to the recent Ahmedabad plane crash, the bench said, “Only one plane crashed, but thousands fly every day. One girl missed the flight by ten minutes, but she was saved. So it happens.”
Affected candidates, however, called this statement flawed and unfair.
“Saying it was just bad luck is not only unfair, it is insulting. We have worked just as hard as everyone else. We have the right to education and to a proper environment that supports our education. We want nothing but justice. Give us the opportunity to retake the exam. If that’s not possible, at least consider some form of compensation like grace marks,” added the student.
Parents of the affected students also voiced anguish over the court’s remarks, stating that reducing the issue to mere misfortune ignores the real consequences faced by those impacted.
Rakesh Pandey, father of one such candidate, said, “To brush this off as mere bad luck is to treat these students as collateral damage. Courts have, in the past, ordered re-tests for specific groups of students who were affected due to no fault of their own. That’s exactly what should happen here.”
Misleading statements in the high court?
During the July 10 hearing in the MP High Court, the Solicitor General representing the exam-conducting body National Testing Agency (NTA) submitted an expert committee report that stated natural light was available and that the statistical difference in performance between affected and unaffected students was negligible.
Parents of the affected candidates called the statement “misleading”, adding that the candidates’ performance cannot be determined by the number of questions attempted by them.
Rakesh Pandey, father of a petitioner, explained, “They argued that both affected and unaffected students attempted an average of 119 questions. But that doesn’t prove fairness. In stressful conditions, students often resort to hit-and-miss just to attempt something. A correct answer earns four marks, and a wrong one leads to the loss of 1 mark. That still gives you a 75 to 80 per cent chance of gaining something. So, just attempting questions doesn’t mean the conditions were okay.”
He also took strong objection to the argument that NEET, being an OMR-based exam, meant lighting wouldn’t matter.
“That’s completely misleading. This year’s Physics paper was particularly difficult. Many questions in Physics and Chemistry require lengthy calculations and note-taking, tasks that require proper lighting. Additionally, the font size of the paper wasn’t even standard 12 or 13. How do you expect students to perform under those conditions?” he added.
He also addressed the NTA’s claim that the All India Rank (AIR) 2 topper emerged from one of the affected centres.
“If you watch his interview, he clearly says that the outage affected his performance. Maybe he could have done even better. We should acknowledge how he overcame the disruption, not use him as an excuse to dismiss the concerns of other affected students,” Pandey expressed.
More than just an exam
For thousands of medical aspirants, NEET-UG isn’t just another test. It is a decisive, single gateway to careers in medicine, dentistry, Ayurveda, veterinary sciences, and more. Many students spend three to four years preparing exclusively for this exam, often placing everything else on hold.
Emphasising the stakes involved, Advocate Mradul Bhatnagar, who is representing the petitioners, told EdexLive, “While the high court has issued certain directions to the NTA regarding the conduct of future exams, they apply only to next year. There is still no relief for students who were impacted this year. This is not a small matter. What happens in this exam can determine the course of a student’s entire career.”
