NTA says Nagpur NEET re-exam candidate’s Abu Dhabi centre change came via his login

A NEET aspirant, Abdullah Mohammad Talib, faced immense distress after his admit card showed Abu Dhabi as the exam centre, despite his family selecting Vidarbha cities. His father expressed relief and anxiety after Abdullah appeared for the retest, alleging potential unauthorized access to his son's application profile. The family hopes for a positive outcome and recovery from the ordeal.

A NEET-UG 2026 candidate from Nagpur, initially assigned an exam center in Abu Dhabi, successfully appeared for the re-test in his hometown after the NTA revised the location. The issue gained national attention, prompting swift action from the agency. While the NTA stated the city change was made via the candidate's login, the family maintained their preference for local centers. This incident occurred amidst the ongoing NEET-UG 2026 re-examination.

NEET UG 2026 Re-Exam: A NEET UG 2026 aspirant from Nagpur, Maharashtra, whose examination centre was mistakenly allotted in Abu Dhabi before being corrected by the National Testing Agency (NTA), appeared for the re-examination on Sunday, June 21. The student's father said the family had to persuade him to take the test after days of stress and anxiety caused by the centre allotment controversy.Speaking to ANI outside the examination centre in Nagpur, Abdullah Mohammad Talib's father revealed that the student was under immense pressure and had been unwell since the previous night.#WATCH | Nagpur, Maharashtra: NEET-UG re-examination candidate Abdullah Mohammad Talib reaches examination centre in Nagpur. Earlier, the family of a NEET aspirant, Abdullah Mohammad Talib, claimed that he was allocated a school in Abu Dhabi as his exam center. pic.twitter.com/9MTVzSH9t9— ANI (@ANI) June 21, 2026 "We had a hard time convincing him. He was not ready to come at all. He had been vomiting since last night and was very nervous. He did not even revise in the morning and came directly to the centre after getting ready. We had to give him an antiemetic tablet," he said.Asked about his son's confidence level ahead of the examination, the father said, "You can say he is around 50% confident. He is appearing for the exam under pressure because of our persuasion. He has prepared well, and once he starts writing the paper, he will gradually become normal."Earlier, the Nagpur-based candidate was allotted an examination centre in Abu Dhabi despite opting for Nagpur, triggering panic as he neither had a passport nor the means to travel abroad. Following the family's complaint, the NTA reassigned him to a centre in Nagpur. The agency later clarified that its records showed the city change had been made through the candidate's registered login credentials during the correction window, citing web activity logs indicating a single-user access pattern.Questioning how the overseas centre was allotted, Abdullah's father rejected suggestions that the change had originated from their end.#WATCH | Nagpur: His father, Mohammad Talib, says, "We were able to convince him with great difficulty. He wasn't getting ready at all, he'd been vomiting all night. He was very nervous. He woke up around ten in the morning. He didn't do any revision. Consider him 50 percent… https://t.co/N8oM9Rt2JX pic.twitter.com/zAscbTCcgf— ANI (@ANI) June 21, 2026 "I wouldn't call NTA's statement wrong because they must have some proof of who did it. But this did not happen from our side. This is someone's mischief. Because of this, NTA is getting a bad name, and we are also being defamed. We have been under tremendous tension. Had we not remained strong, the child might have done something drastic," he said.When asked whether the Abu Dhabi centre had been selected using their credentials, he reiterated, "No, it did not happen through us. This is someone's mischief, and we need to find out who is responsible."The father also pointed out that Abdullah had appeared for the previous NEET examination in Nagpur and had no reason to choose an overseas centre."He had already taken the exam in Nagpur. Why would we want to go abroad to write the exam? We have no relatives there, no passport, and no money to make such arrangements. Why would we select Abu Dhabi for him?" he asked.According to the family, Nagpur was listed as the student's first-choice examination city, followed by Wardha and Bhandara. After the issue came to light, the family contacted the NTA helpline and sought intervention from authorities, following which a revised admit card was issued and a fresh examination centre in Nagpur was allotted.The NEET UG 2026 re-examination is being conducted on June 21 in pen-and-paper mode across 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad, with over 22 lakh candidates expected to appear.

The National Testing Agency has refuted claims of a NEET aspirant from Nagpur being assigned an Abu Dhabi exam center, stating the choice was made by the applicant. The family disputes this, asserting their preferred cities remain Nagpur, Bhandara, and Wardha, and the son lacks a passport. Despite NTA's investigation indicating changes were made from Nagpur, they ultimately moved the center to the city to protect the candidate's interests.

City change request was allegedly made through the candidate’s own registered login; around 3.2 lakh candidates used the correction window, NTA said in a statement ahead of the June 21 re-test

The National Testing Agency clarified a Nagpur NEET-UG candidate's Abu Dhabi test centre allocation, stating it resulted from the candidate's own login during a correction window, not a system error. Despite initial claims of a technical glitch, NTA's records indicated the change was user-initiated. The agency swiftly accommodated the candidate's request to shift the centre back to Nagpur, prioritizing a student-first approach to prevent exam misses.