10 years, 89 paper leak cases, 48 retests: From centre to states, few plugs for a leaky record

Despite disquiet in the streets and parliament, a sense of denial seems to drape the Narendra Modi government’s response to paper leaks across the country. 

For the last two months, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan has at least thrice denied that there was any evidence of a paper leak in the controversial NEET-UG exam, going on to suggest that no paper was in fact leaked in the last seven years. This, despite the Supreme Court’s observation that there was a leak in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh and Bihar’s Patna. 

In parliament last week, Union minister of state Sukanta Majumdar responded to three different questions – seeking details of paper leaks over various periods in the Rajya Sabha – saying data on specific incidents is “not maintained”. One was by IUML Rajya Sabha member Haris Beeran, another by Congress MPs Syed Naseer Hussain and Imran Pratapgarhi and TMC MP Prakash Chik Baraik, and a third query by Congress MP Phulo Devi Netam.

Could it be because of the government’s own record?

A Newslaundry analysis of suspected paper leaks – where a case was lodged or the exam was cancelled – suggests 89 separate cases documented in media reports over the last decade, impacting at least 6.5 crore candidates who had appeared in these exams, with 21 under the watch of central institutions when the BJP was in power at the centre.

Apart from these 21 that were conducted by central bodies, the remaining 68 were spread across 17 states, with 41, or the largest, in states or Union territories where the NDA was in power. 

But few parties can boast of a clean history.

Eleven suspected leaks happened under a Congress tenure, including seven in Rajasthan when Ashok Gehlot was the chief minister. Three instances were recorded in Uttar Pradesh when the Samajwadi Party was in power, three under the BRS in Telangana, two when the Uddhav Thackeray government controlled Maharashtra, two when the TDP was in power in Andhra Pradesh before it allied with the BJP, two when RJD was in alliance with Congress and JDU, one under the TMC government in West Bengal, one under the JMM in Jharkhand, one under CPM in Kerala and one under the BJD government in Odisha. 

Meanwhile, as the opposition has tried to corner the NDA government over the issue, PM Narendra Modi has hit back over attempts to politicise the matter and “jeopardising” India’s future.

Most of these 89 instances had triggered an FIR. A retest was conducted for at least 48 of these papers. The exam was cancelled before it was conducted in 22 cases. And in 18 instances, there was no cancellation or retest but only the filing of an FIR. A bulk of the instances were in exams for teaching and police jobs.

The Centre

Under central institutes or departments, the biggest defaulter seemed to be the Central Board of Secondary Education, with eight exams conducted by the board allegedly leaked between 2014 and 2023. This impacted a total of nearly 67 lakh students – CBSE is the most prominent educational board with more than 24,000 affiliated schools in India and abroad. The CBSE conducted a retest in only five of these eight cases.

Four of the eight instances were pre-medical entrance tests during 2015, 2016 and 2017. The other four included a class 12 physics paper that was allegedly leaked in Manipur in 2014, a class 10 maths paper and a class 12 economics paper that were allegedly leaked in 2018, the CTET paper – test for teaching jobs eligibility – that was allegedly leaked in 2021 impacting over 28 lakh candidates. 

The CBI probed six of these eight incidents, with all its investigations suspecting a nexus of exam centre staff and coaching institutes. 

A retest wasn’t conducted in each case. For example, the NEET phase 2 exam, where the CBSE denied the allegations of a paper leak in 2016 despite the Uttarakhand police arresting five people.

Or the class 10 maths exam in 2018, where the board scrapped its own decision to conduct a retest considering the impact on lakhs of students. Or the CTET exam in 2021, where the board denied the allegations of paper leak despite the UP STF arresting several suspects in Agra.

Meanwhile, the NTA, which was formed in 2017 to reduce the CBSE’s burden, hasn’t been able to improve the quality of assessments either. The agency is tasked with conducting eight exams annually, but five have been marred by paper leak allegations since 2021.

These include the JEE Mains in 2021, NEET-UG in 2021 and 2024, and the UGC NET tests in 2021 and 2024. 

Except for the UGC NET 2024 exam, which is being probed by the CBI after its papers were allegedly circulated on Telegram, the NTA hasn’t cancelled or postponed any. The CBI’s probe in all the other cases linked to NTA exams suggests that a nexus of exam centre staff, coaching centres and intermediaries were at play. But the NTA has ruled out a retest saying the scope of malpractice was limited.

The UGC NET exam is a computer-based test to check eligibility for the role of a junior research fellow or assistant professor in universities across India. For over 11 lakh candidates, the test which was scheduled to happen in June has been postponed to September. 

The CBI is also probing the 2021 JEE Mains case, in which test questions were allegedly circulated on social media minutes after the exam began, and had last year arrested several suspects in raids.  

Pradhan had also dismissed the allegations surrounding the NEET exam in 2021, even though there were arrests linked to a centre in Jaipur. However, he did set up a high panel probe to look into the paper leaks in the four other cases. The findings of these panels, however, have never been made public. Newslaundry reached out to the NTA to ask about the findings. This report will be updated if a response is received.

Eight recruitment tests were also hit by paper leak allegations, including two held by the Staff Selection Commission, two by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, one each by the UPSC, Indian Army, ONGC, and the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board. 

The exam was cancelled in all these cases, causing a delay ranging from two to eight months. 

The states

Though the issue of paper leaks was poll plank in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh assembly elections in 2023, respectively, the state with the worst record is Uttar Pradesh, with 11 instances. It’s followed by MP and Rajasthan with nine incidents each. 

In UP,  seven of the 11 instances pertained to jobs while the rest were linked to admissions.

From 2014 to 2017, there were three such instances under the Samajwadi Party government, with the biggest of them being the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission preliminary exam that was allegedly leaked on WhatsApp impacting over 4.5 lakh candidates. 

Eight paper leaks have allegedly taken place under the Yogi Adityanath government. Since 2018, for every paper leak, Adityanath has announced a zero tolerance policy, assigned the probe to STF, and has announced that the culprits would face stringent action under Gangster Act and NSA. But this has not stopped paper leaks in the state. 

The most popular of all these exams is the UP Teacher Eligibility Test conducted by the state’s Basic Education Board. It is mandatory for aspiring teachers in government and private schools across UP. In 2018 and 2021, over 40 lakh candidates had applied for the exam against just 70,000 vacancies. But in both the years, the exam was allegedly leaked. Only the 2021 exam was cancelled.

In 2021, ahead of the assembly elections, the exam’s question paper was found circulating on WhatsApp groups in Mathura, Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr on the day the exam was scheduled to be held in November. 

Opposition leaders quickly launched a scathing attack against the BJP government. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had commented, “Paper leaks, cancellation of examination and results are common in the BJP regime. UP is at the peak of corruption in the education sector.”

The Adityanath government jumped into action, cancelled the exam, launched a probe by the Special Task Force, and within 10 days, 23 people were arrested. The chief minister commented, “Those who are involved in this misdeed must know that a case is being registered against them under the Gangster Act and their property will be confiscated along with the imposition of the NSA.”

Among the accused was Rai Anoop Prasad, brother of Bihar BJP MLA Rashmi Verma. His printing press was given a contract to print question papers for the exam. 

After the test was cancelled, it took as long as two months to conduct a retest for over 22 lakh candidates. 

Another exam that was leaked was for the positions of review officer and assistant review officer in June this year, impacting 5.6 lakh candidates. The government has promised a retest in six months.

In the case of cancellation of the UP constable recruitment exam, it has been over five months but a retest has not been conducted. Infact, a suicide was also reported in UP because of the exam’s cancellation. The family of the deceased candidate from Firozabad told the media that she was depressed because the exams were repeatedly being cancelled.

There have been three paper leaks linked to class 12 board exams too, impacting over 60 lakh students across UP. 

Meanwhile, in Rajasthan, all the nine suspected paper leaks were linked to recruitment exams, including for forest guard and police constable jobs. Five were papers conducted by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission. The other defaulter was the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education, whose paper for the recruitment for teachers has been leaked twice in 2021 and 2023. Two other exams, which allegedly leaked in 2022, were for the postings of police constable conducted by the DGP’s office, and for forest guard jobs, held by the Rajasthan Subordinate and Ministerial Services Selection Board. 

Seven of these nine alleged leaks in Rajasthan took place during Congress leader Ashok Gehlot’s tenure as CM. 

All these exams were cancelled, impacting 80 lakh applicants who appeared for just over 98,000 vacancies. Notably, the re-test in the case of a recruitment exam for teachers in 2023 took as long as 10 months. 

During the 2023 assembly elections, the BJP organised state-wise protests demanding accountability from the Gehlot government. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the then Congress government, saying that the paper leak was orchestrated by a “paper leak mafia”. The BJP also promised a special investigation team to probe the matter.

But in 2024, as soon as the BJP came to power, a paper to recruit police sub inspectors in the state was leaked. Over 1.5 lakh candidates were to appear for it just against 859 vacancies. The exam was cancelled and a re-test has not been conducted yet. 

Special Operation Groups of the Rajasthan Police are still investigating the matter and have arrested several people, including 20 trainee sub-inspectors. But in order to demonstrate that the government is not passive on the matter, a civic body demolished the house of one of the accused. 

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh’s nine paper leak cases were reported under BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s tenure as CM. Six were linked to jobs – mostly for positions in the agriculture department or health department – while three were class 10 and 12 exam papers. 

The Congress accused the BJP of “orchestrating” these leaks to undermine the integrity of recruitment processes. Kamal Nath, former CM and state Congress chief, even went on to make paper leaks in Madhya Pradesh an issue during the Karnataka assembly elections in 2023. 

Meanwhile, in Gujarat, all five suspected leaks were linked to recruitment exams. 

Four leaks each were reported from Bihar, Assam and Karnataka, most of them linked to recruitment tests conducted by the state selection commissions. 

The new laws

Between 2014 and 2018, the share of recruitment and educational exams hit by paper leaks was nearly equal – 21 for educational exams and 18 for recruitment papers. Since 2019, leaks in recruitment exams have surged while leaks in educational exams have come down. 

Of the incidents mentioned in this report, most were linked to offline exams.

In February, a new bill – Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 – to curb unfair practices in public exams was passed with wide support across political parties. The act applies to exams conducted by central government bodies like the UPSC, SSC, RRB and NTA, and prescribes stricter penalties such as minimum imprisonment of three years which can be extended up to 10 years, along with fines ranging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore. It also holds officials accountable with fines up to Rs 1 crore.

At least eight states have also enacted laws to tackle paper leaks in public examinations, with heavier penalties, up to Rs 10 crore. UP had introduced the first one in 1998.

In 2022, Rajasthan implemented Rajasthan Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Act, followed by Gujarat in 2023, and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar this year. Madhya Pradesh is now in the process of passing its version of such a law. 

But there are doubts surrounding the efficacy of these laws. For example, in Rajasthan, after the law was introduced, four paper leaks were reported.

Also under question is whether this legislation will be able to stop assessment companies with a murky record being hired to conduct exams. Newslaundry had earlier reported how five companies with allegations of unprofessional conduct had been given one contract after another.

Harinder, a 22-year-old medical aspirant who had been demanding a wider NEET retest, said, “In the NEET matter, the CBI investigation is still ongoing. So how do we know that the leak was not widespread?...I don’t know if these laws are sufficient…because the government needs to fill gaps in the system which cause paper leaks.”