New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday demanded an independent judicial probe and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into alleged irregularities in the Central Board of Secondary Education’s (CBSE) On-Screen Marking (OSM) system, accusing the board of awarding the contract to a firm with a controversial past, PTI reported.
Gandhi said CBSE students and their parents are traumatised but Prime Minister Narendra Modi “has nothing to say”. In a video posted on his social media accounts, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said troubling details are emerging about the Class 12 CBSE exam.
“COEMPT, the company that did the On-Screen Marking (OSM) for your exam, was actually called Globarena. Globarena has carried out this scam twice before in Telangana, once in the board exam in Telangana in 2019 and after that again in Telangana in 2023. The same OSM-based errors were responsible for the death by suicide of 23 young Indians in Telangana,” Gandhi said.
Alleged Negligence Over Firm’s Past
He accused the CBSE of ignoring publicly available information about the firm’s past and suggested this amounted to wilful negligence. “This was all public information. It was known to everybody and yet for some hidden reason the CBSE chose the same company again. It took us 30 seconds to figure out that this company was earlier called something else. I am absolutely certain that the people in the CBSE and in the government of India were aware of this company’s background,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi urged students and parents to amplify his questions and press the government for answers. He listed a string of specific demands: “First, why and by whom COEMPT was given the CBSE contract? Second, which procedures were circumvented to give COEMPT this contract? If we could figure out in 30 seconds that this company earlier had a different name, why didn’t the CBSE figure this out and why were there no background checks done. Third, and most important — what is the exact relationship between the COEMPT management and the Modi government.”
Probe, SIT Demanded
He repeated his call for formal probes. An independent judicial probe and an SIT are required to find out the real culprits behind this “scam”, Gandhi said.
In a Hindi post accompanying the video, Gandhi said the CBSE results have been “marred by massive irregularities”, leaving millions of students and their parents in shock, and criticised the prime minister for remaining silent. “And (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji? As always — no answers, no accountability, and no shame,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi reiterated allegations about the company’s previous conduct in Telangana. “The company entrusted with this responsibility — COEMPT — had previously committed these very same misdeeds in Telangana in 2019, operating under the name ‘Globarena’,” he said, adding that “The name changed but the intent remained the same; the nature remained unchanged.”
He blamed authorities for awarding the contract despite the firm’s history. “Its history was a matter of public record, yet the contract was awarded regardless,” Gandhi said. He warned that the futures of about 1.85 million students were jeopardised. “The future of 1.85 million students was handed over to such a company, and yet, no one seemed to care,” he said, calling the episode “not a mistake — it is a calculated conspiracy”.
Who Authorised Contract?
Gandhi returned to his core questions and demanded transparency. “There are some critical questions that demand answers: Why was the CBSE contract awarded to COEMPT, and at whose behest? Which specific rules and procedures were bypassed to award this contract to this company?” he asked.
He pressed on the issue of background checks and the company’s ties to the government. “Given that COEMPT had previously been embroiled in controversies while operating as Globarena, how did the CBSE remain unaware of this? Why were background checks not conducted? What, precisely, is the nature of the relationship between COEMPT’s management and the Modi government?” Gandhi said, posing questions to the government.
Fighting For Students’ Futures
The former Congress chief vowed to pursue the matter on behalf of students. “To our Gen Z friends taking the CBSE exams — no one will be able to steal the fruits of your hard work or your future. We will get to the bottom of this conspiracy and root out this corruption once and for all,” he asserted.
The Congress party escalated its attack on the government on Wednesday, accusing it of protecting culpable officials and demanding accountability from the education minister. The party said the “Mantri Pradhan’s insistence” on holding on to his office and the “Pradhan Mantri’s protecting him is shameful”, and reiterated that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan must immediately resign.
The controversy erupted after some Class 12 students reported scoring discrepancies and said scanned copies of their answer sheets uploaded by the board did not match their handwriting, sparking concerns of possible answer-sheet mismatches in the OSM system. CBSE sources said the board is treating all complaints on top priority.
