CM Vijay demands NEET abolition after paper leak, calls for Class 12-based medical admissions

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay has demanded scrapping the NEET-based admission system for medical courses, calling for states to be allowed to admit students based on Class 12 marks instead. His statement came after the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled the NEET UG 2026 examination following reports of a widespread paper leak.

In the official statement, CM Vijay said repeated incidents of paper leaks have exposed deep structural flaws in the examination system. He pointed out that NEET UG 2026 was conducted across 5,432 centres nationwide and saw over 22 lakh candidates appear, including around 1.4 lakh students from Tamil Nadu alone.

Reiterating Tamil Nadu's long-standing position, Vijay said the state has consistently opposed NEET since its introduction, arguing that the exam has disproportionately affected students from rural backgrounds, government schools, Tamil-medium education systems, and economically weaker sections. He said admissions into MBBS, BDS, and AYUSH courses should be based on Class 12 marks under the state quota system.