Congress leader and general secretary Sachin Pilot on Wednesday, 27 May 2026, called out the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) over what he described as a flawed implementation of the Online Scoring and Marking (OSM) system, saying more than 18.5 lakh Class XII students are suffering as a direct consequence. Pilot also demanded clear answers on the tender awarded to COEMPT — questions he said were first raised by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi — and pressed the government on accountability in the alleged NEET 2026 paper leak.

Context

In his post, Pilot listed a range of student grievances tied to the OSM rollout: 'excessively strict marking, blurred answer sheet copies, evaluation errors, high revaluation fees, website crashes, and lack of transparency in the assessment.' The scale of the problem, he argued, is not incidental — over 18.5 lakh students appearing for the CBSE Grade XII examination are directly affected by these systemic failures.

Pilot also pointed to four specific questions raised by Rahul Gandhi regarding the tender awarded to COEMPT, describing them as 'extremely serious' and demanding they be 'clearly answered.' The tender and its circumstances remain a focal point of Opposition scrutiny of CBSE's procurement process.

Policy Backdrop

CBSE has administered Class XII board examinations for decades, and the shift toward digitalised evaluation — including online marking platforms — has been a gradual process accelerated after the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted conventional paper-checking cycles. Recurring complaints about online evaluation portals, including server crashes and inconsistent marking, have accompanied this transition since at least 2018.

Separately, the National Testing Agency (NTA), established by executive order in 2017 to conduct major entrance examinations including NEET, has faced sustained criticism over procedural lapses. The alleged NEET 2026 paper leak — which Pilot specifically cited — has intensified demands for independent oversight of both tendering and examination conduct. The research note flags that specific details of the NEET 2026 leak and the COEMPT tender are still emerging and have not been independently confirmed from established public records.

Stakeholders and Impact

The most immediate stakeholders are the 18.5 lakh-plus CBSE Class XII students whose marks, revaluation requests, and university admissions timelines are directly tied to the resolution of these complaints. Parents have also raised concerns, with Pilot noting that 'the mental agony caused to students and parents due to this shoddy system cannot simply be ignored.'

Medical aspirants form a second, overlapping group: students preparing for or awaiting NEET 2026 results face uncertainty if the integrity of the examination is under question. The Education Ministry, CBSE, and NTA are the institutional actors Pilot explicitly names as accountable parties whose silence or inaction he is challenging.

What's Next

The Opposition is likely to press the Education Ministry for formal responses to Rahul Gandhi's questions on the COEMPT tender, both inside and outside Parliament. Any government reply — or the absence of one — will shape the political temperature around education governance ahead of the next academic cycle.

For students, the immediate priority is a credible resolution of OSM-related marking disputes and a transparent revaluation mechanism at affordable cost. Whether CBSE revises its evaluation protocols and whether NTA faces a formal inquiry into the alleged NEET 2026 paper leak will determine the longer-term institutional response to what Pilot has framed as a systemic accountability failure.