NEET 2018: Over 13 lakh candidates appear for medical entrance exam conducted by CBSE at 2,225 centres across country

New Delhi: Over 13 lakh candidates appeared for the national medical entrance exam NEET on Sunday at 2,225 centres across the country with authorities conducting stringent checks on dress code to avoid any malpractice during the examination. The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to medical and dental colleges across the country was conducted by CBSE in 136 cities as against 107 last year. “A total number of 13,26,725 students had registered for the exam, of whom 5,80,648 are males and 7,46,076 females and one transgender. The exam was conducted at 2,225 centres from across the country,” a senior CBSE official said. [caption id=“attachment_4397937” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] The board established 43 new centres this year to accommodate the higher number of applications. “Despite best efforts to accommodate the increased number of NEET aspirants this year, exam centres fell short for a few candidates not only in Tamil Nadu but in other states too,” the official added. Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswamy had on Saturday announced that every student from Tamil Nadu who travels to other states to appear for the NEET will be given train fare in addition to monetary assistance of Rs 1,000 per candidate. There were stringent checks at the centres about dress codes where students were asked to remove hair pins, jewellery items and even shoes. “More than 4,000 observers were deputed across the country at centres to oversee the examination. Nearly 1,20,000 invigilators were deputed for these exams. Frisking was done with the help of female and male guards and with the help of metal detectors,” the official said. A 46-year-old man from Tamil Nadu, who accompanied his son to Kerala for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), died of a heart attack on Sunday as the aspiring doctor wrote the examination unaware of his father’s death. Chief Minister K Palaniswamy conveyed his condolence to the kin of the deceased and announced a solatium of Rs 3 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund. Krishnasamy had travelled with his son Kasturi Mahalingam to Ernakulam in Kerala, where the student was allotted a centre to appear for NEET-2018.