New Delhi: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has claimed that the candidate from Nagpur, who had been allotted an examination centre in Abu Dhabi for the NEET UG 2026 re-examination scheduled for Sunday, had opted for the change himself.
The agency has also said that the candidate’s log-in credentials may have been compromised, indicating that they were used by somebody else to cause mischief and show the NTA in poor light.
The candidate’s father claimed that the student and his family were left distressed after it came to their notice that the centre had been changed to Abu Dhabi barely 48 hours before the exam. On getting in touch with the NTA, the student was allotted a centre in Nagpur.
“Reference the issue with regard to allotment of a centre in Abu Dhabi to a candidate in Nagpur, NTA would like to state the following: Following the rescheduling of NEET (UG) 2026 to 21 June, the National Testing Agency reopened the examination-city correction window to assist candidates,” the NTA posted on X.
“High success rate: Around 3.2 lakh candidates used the correction window, and NTA allotted the preferred examinat
ion city to over 99.5% of them,” it said.
“On the ‘Abu Dhabi’ query: NTA’s web-activity records indicate that the city change in this case was made through the candidate’s own registered login during the open correction window, with a consistent single-user access pattern,” the post says.
“Immediate Resolution for Last-Minute Requests: Despite the Abu Dhabi centre being chosen by the candidate, the NTA received an informal request on the evening of June 19 (just 48 hours before the exam) to change the centre to Nagpur. NTA personnel immediately initiated the change and contacted the candidate’s father on 19th evening itself to help them complete the formal process,” the NTA has said.
“NTA has observed that on 3 occasions, one – the centre was changed to Abu Dhabi using candidate’s credentials and twice it was previewed that the centre is Abu Dhabi. Despite that NTA has accorded to aspirant’s request and the change of centre was actioned,” the post added.
The agency also spoke of a “Student-First” approach, adding that its priority is to ensure that no candidate misses the examination over an administrative doubt.
NTA director general Abhishek Singh also confirmed that the immediate issue had been resolved.
Singh told India Today that the agency is now investigating how the candidate was assigned an examination centre in Abu Dhabi despite being based in Nagpur. The NTA has already contacted the candidate and begun looking into the circumstances that led to the incorrect allotment, he said.
One possible reason being examined is whether the candidate’s account credentials may have been compromised, Singh said.
“Some candidates do not adequately secure their account passwords, which can sometimes lead to such issues,” he said.