Chennai, May 16:
Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin has renewed his demand for scrapping NEET, urging the Union government to issue an ordinance to suspend the examination for the academic year 2026–27.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Stalin called for an amendment to Section 14 of the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, arguing that the NEET system should be temporarily rescinded due to the alleged large-scale paper leak and subsequent cancellation of the 2026 examination.
He said the crisis had left nearly 22.8 lakh medical aspirants in uncertainty, adding that repeated disruptions have caused “mental trauma” and unfairly impacted students across the country. Stalin claimed the leak exposed structural weaknesses in a highly centralised examination system.
The DMK leader also reiterated his long-standing criticism of NEET, arguing that it has widened inequality in medical admissions by favouring students from affluent urban backgrounds with access to expensive coaching facilities, while disadvantaging rural and government school students.
He noted that the coaching industry built around NEET has grown into a massive ecosystem worth tens of thousands of crores, making success increasingly dependent on financial capacity rather than academic merit.
Stalin further pointed out that since Parliament is not in session, the Centre could invoke Article 123 of the Constitution to promulgate an ordinance, allowing states to admit students based on qualifying examination marks for the 2026–27 academic year.
He argued that such a step would provide immediate relief to students and prevent them from undergoing another round of competitive stress following what he described as a “compromised examination process,” while continuing to press for the complete abolition of NEET in the long term.