New Delhi: The National Testing Agency (NTA) is facing new concerns after allegations of a paper leak in the UGC-NET June 2026 exam. This controversy emerges just weeks after a previous leak involving the NEET-UG exam and complaints about numerous errors in the NET papers.
The Ministry of Education has instructed the NTA to investigate claims that a 100-page PDF, thought to be linked to the UGC-NET sociology paper, was shared prior to the exam. Reports suggest that nearly 90 questions from this PDF were found to match the actual exam questions.
As of now, NTA officials have not responded to inquiries about the situation.
The situation intensified on Wednesday when opposition leader Rahul Gandhi criticized the government over these allegations. He shared a report on social media, claiming that the PDF, which should only be in the NTA’s possession, was leaked before the exam. “The serious allegations regarding last week’s UGC-NET exam are alarming. Days after the NEET paper leak, reports are suggesting a PDF was distributed just before the UGC-NET exam,” he stated.
Gandhi also alleged that the question paper was being sold for ₹2.25 lakh in several states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, and Rajasthan. He claimed that the same network was offering to provide papers for other upcoming exams like CSIR-NET, HTET, and ADA.
These new allegations surface in the wake of the fallout from the NEET-UG paper leak, which led to considerable political backlash and promises from the government for stricter measures in future high-stakes exams. Recently, candidates who took the UGC-NET sociology exam reported multiple spelling mistakes, incorrect names of important thinkers, and poor translations, raising serious concerns about the quality control in the exam preparation process.
The UGC-NET is organized by the NTA to determine eligibility for assistant professorships, junior research fellowships, and admission to PhD programs.
