Claims and counter-allegations were exchanged between Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday as alleged “major manipulation” of the board’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system for grading Class 12 board examination papers.
Rahul Gandhi claimed that CBSE failed to answer questions raised about alleged irregularities in the assessment.
CBSE’s new OSM system has been used for digital evaluation of answer sheets for Class 12 exams this time. The problem escalated after reports emerged on social media of glitches, alleged mismatches in answer scripts, and online trolling of a student who pointed out discrepancies in his assessed papers.
Read also | Wrong totals, unclear scans, web glitches: Questions rise across CBSE’s OSM system
Rahul Gandhi alleges ‘massive manipulation’
Gandhi, on the X programme, claimed that “millions of children across the country and their parents” were left “in shock” over the alleged manipulation of CBSE exam results.
“There has been massive manipulation of CBSE exam results, leaving millions of children across the country and their parents in shock,” Gandhi wrote. COEMPT, which was awarded the contract for the digital assessment exercise, was earlier operating under the name Globarena and was involved in the controversy in Telangana in 2019, he alleged.
Gandhi said: “The name has changed but the intention is the same, the nature is the same.”
He questioned why the contract was awarded to the company and claimed that procedures may have been bypassed. “This is not a mistake, it is a deliberate conspiracy,” he wrote.
“And Mr. Modi? As always, no answers, no accountability, no shame,” he wrote, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Gandhi also raised four questions regarding the contract award:
- “Why was the CBSE contract awarded to COEMPT, and on whose orders?”
- “What rules and procedures were broken to award this contract to the company?”
- “COEMPT was already involved in the controversy under the name Globarena, so why didn’t CBSE know about it? Why weren’t background checks done?”
- “What exactly is the relationship between the COEMPT administration and the Modi government?”
The Congress leader demanded an independent judicial inquiry and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter.
CBSE rejects these allegations
In response to Gandhi’s statements, CBSE issued a statement denying any wrongdoing in awarding the contract. “The CBSE rejects the allegations regarding award of contract to Coempt Edutech. It is false, misleading and not based on facts,” the board said.
CBSE added that due process was followed while awarding the contract.
“The CBSE has strictly followed the protocols of Public Finance Rules in awarding the contract to the agency. CBSE has put out the RFP for digital evaluation of answer books for 2026 board examinations on the Central Public Procurement Portal on 28.08.2025 and awarded the contract to the qualified bidder,” it said.
Rahul Gandhi says: ‘Denial is not an answer’
Soon after CBSE responded, Gandhi posted again on X, saying the board had failed to answer the questions he had raised.
“Denial is no answer,” Gandhi wrote. “Why can’t the Education Minister and the Central Board of Secondary Education answer the four simple questions I asked?” He added: “The future of 18.5 thousand students is at risk. They deserve the truth.”
What is CBSE OSM class
The issue came to light after Vedant Shrivastava, a Class XII student, requested scanned copies of his answer sheets through the CBSE re-evaluation process due to unexpectedly low scores in Physics.
After receiving the documents on May 23, Shrivastava claimed that the physics answer sheet linked to his roll number did not belong to him. He posted side-by-side screenshots of his English and computer science papers on X to show that handwriting in physics text was very different.
Read also | From being called ‘Pakistani’ to CBSE apology: Vedant Shrivastava case amid OSM row
“I studied for a whole year. I sacrificed sleep, peace of mind, outings and everything for these exams. And now I don’t even know if my actual physics paper was checked or not. Do students really deserve this?” Shrivastava wrote.
Following his post, Shrivastava was criticized online. Some users even called him “Pakistani” and “anti-national”. Rahul Gandhi spoke in support of the 17-year-old, accusing the BJP’s IT cell of targeting the student in pursuit of justice.
Gandhi wrote on
Residents and parents also criticized the new OSM system, saying it introduced an unfamiliar workflow, scored incorrectly, and produced poor-quality scans.
CBSE clarification
CBSE had earlier rejected allegations that its OSM portal had been hacked. The examination board said the URL mentioned in social media posts and some news reports was just an exam website with sample data and not the actual platform used to evaluate the commission’s exam answer sheets.
“The portal used to evaluate the answer books has a different URL, has not been hacked and does not contain the vulnerabilities pointed out in the said social media post,” the board said. They added that “no security breaches were detected” on the evaluation portal.
CBSE also said that the OSM system was introduced to enhance transparency in assessments and has “strong safeguards” and grievance redressal mechanisms built into it.
