NEET-UG 2026: MP HC Dismisses OMR Verification Plea After Candidate Confirms Sheet Is Hers

The Madhya Pradesh High Court at Gwalior has dismissed a writ petition filed by a NEET (UG)-2026 medical entrance candidate who had alleged discrepancies between her physical OMR answer sheet and the version uploaded by the National Testing Agency (NTA), after she herself confirmed in open court that the original sheet produced by the agency was indeed hers.

A division bench of Justice G. S. Ahluwalia and Justice Anuradha Shukla was hearing the petition filed by Anvi Rajoriya, who had approached the court seeking a direction to the NTA to produce and verify her original physical OMR answer sheet by comparing it with the scanned version uploaded on the official portal. She had further sought re-evaluation of her NEET (UG)-2026 result if any discrepancy was found between the two, along with consequential benefits for counselling and admission.

The petitioner had also asked the court to direct the NTA to consider and decide her representation dated July 16, 2026, through a reasoned and speaking order within a time frame fixed by the court, and had sought interim protection to prevent any alteration, overwriting, deletion or destruction of her original OMR sheet and connected physical and electronic records pending disposal of the petition.

The petition had also sought costs in favour of the petitioner.

Shri Siddharth Sijoria appeared as counsel for the petitioner, while Shri Praveen Kumar Newaskar, Deputy Solicitor General, represented the NTA and the Union of India.

In compliance with the court's earlier order dated August 13, 2026, the original OMR sheet was produced before the bench by Manish Shrivastava, Assistant Director, National Testing Agency, New Delhi, in a sealed envelope. The envelope was opened in open court in the presence of counsel for the petitioner, Shrivastava, and Newaskar. The petitioner herself was present during the exercise.

The original sheet was then shown to Rajoriya. According to the order, "the original OMR sheet was shown to the petitioner. She fairly conceded that the original OMR sheet produced by respondents is her OMR sheet."

With the petitioner's own confirmation resolving the core dispute over the authenticity of the uploaded OMR sheet, the bench held that the petition no longer survived for adjudication. The court observed, "Since the controversy with regard to the correctness of the OMR sheet uploaded by the respondents has been resolved by production of the original OMR sheet and verification of the same by the petitioner herself, therefore, nothing survives to be decided in this writ petition."

Accordingly, the bench dismissed the petition, noting in its order dated August 18, 2026, that "the petition fails and is hereby dismissed."

The order further records that the original OMR sheet was re-sealed by Newaskar in open court and returned to him after the verification exercise was completed.

The case is among a string of petitions filed before various High Courts this year by NEET (UG)-2026 candidates seeking verification of their physical OMR sheets against digitally uploaded records, amid concerns raised by aspirants over possible scanning or upload errors affecting results. In several such cases, candidates have sought physical inspection of their answer sheets to rule out any mismatch that could have affected their scores, rank, or eligibility for counselling.

The matter was disposed of without any order as to costs, with the bench choosing not to address the other reliefs sought in the petition.

Case Title: Anvi Rajoriya v. National Testing Agency NTA and Others

Date of Order: August 18, 2026

Bench: Justice G.S. Ahluwalia and Justice Anuradhapura Shukla