Overview
- NEET-UG 2026, which ran Sunday from 2 pm to 5 pm, drew about 22.79 lakh candidates across 551 Indian cities and 14 overseas centres.
- Entry closed at 1:30 pm with mandatory admit card and photo ID, while eligible PwD candidates received compensatory time until 6 pm.
- NTA deployed layered safeguards including Aadhaar-based biometrics, CCTV at centres and GPS-escorted paper transport, with a fallback that allowed entry after a biometric glitch on a signed undertaking.
- Administrations set up comfort measures for the afternoon heat such as drinking water, shade, medical teams and power backup, with cities like Indore adding special buses to help candidates reach centres.
- Real-time oversight extended online as NTA blocked more than 65 Telegram channels pushing fake papers, while isolated social posts alleged delays and biometric snags at some centres.