NEET 2020 blunder: Student who topped ST category declared failed; NTA revises marks

NEET 2020 results were announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on 16 October on its official website. In a major blunder, a medical aspirant who appeared for the national level exam and topped the exam for the reserved Schedule Tribe category, was declared failed in NEET 2020 result card. Mridual Rawat, who was declared fail in the first scorecard, was actually the all India topper of the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category. According to a report by Hindustan Times, 17-year-old Mridul, a resident of Gangapur city town of Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan, was shocked to see his NEET 2020 result when it was declared on Friday. The result showed him obtaining 329 marks out of 720. As per the teenager, he was scoring 650 marks out of total 720 on the basis of his recorded response OMR sheet and answer key challenged. The report quoted Mridul saying that as per his marks in the NTA NEET 2020 results, he had virtually failed in the exam as he would not get any medical college with the score given to him. Mridul said that his parents motivated him after which he challenged the result sheet before NTA on the basis of his recorded response sheet and answer key. Mridul then tweeted to NTA following which the correction was made in his result. He said his general category All India Rank (AIR) is 3577. The NTA again made a in Mridul’s result as in the updated scorecard, the authorities fixed the score written out in numbers, but in word column it still stated, ‘Three Hundred and Twenty-Nine marks’. He then again approached NTA. Odisha boy Shoyeb Aftab topped the NEET 2020 creating history with a perfect score in the medical entrance exam. More than 14.37 lakh candidates appeared for the NEET 2020 that was conducted adhering to strict COVID-19 guidelines. Candidates who have qualified the exam will have to appear for counselling round. The dates of NEET 2020 counselling will soon be released by Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) on its website mcc.nic.in. Students who have passed will find admission in one of 80,005 MBBS, 26,949 BDS, 52,720 AYUSH and 525 BVSc and AH seats in medical and dental colleges. NEET 2020 marks will also be required for admission in 15 AIIMS and two JIPMER institutes.