A political controversy erupted after the National Testing Agency (NTA) said the CUET-UG 2026 exam for admission to undergraduate degree programs across India was delayed in some centers on Saturday, May 30.
The NTA, which recently faced questions over the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, has revised the timings to 4 pm for the Combined University Entrance Test on Saturday – a nationwide standardized entrance test in India conducted by the NTA for students seeking admission into undergraduate and postgraduate programs across hundreds of central, state and private universities.
Why was the CUET exam delayed?
CUET-UG 2026 for admission to undergraduate degree programs across India was delayed at some centers on Saturday due to a technical glitch, NTA said.
NTA attributed the technical issue to systems managed by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
“TCS reported that there was a technical glitch at its end which delayed the start of CUET (UG) 2026 exam at some centers on 30.05.2026. The issue has since been resolved and the exam is being conducted with full make-up time so that no candidate is deprived,” NTA said in a post on X, sharing the revised timings.
CUET delay leads to political dispute
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday led attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi following the delay in the CUET exam, accusing him of “completely destroying the country’s education system”.
Rahul Gandhi said that the government could not conduct even a single examination properly while claiming to be a ‘Vishwaguru’.
In a Hindi post on
Gandhi’s statement refers to the recent controversies surrounding the country’s premier examinations and the bodies that conduct them. Recently, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) faced questions over alleged discrepancies in Class 12 board results, which were produced by a new assessment method called on-screen marking (OSM) which has been criticized as flawed.
Ahead of the CBSE Class 12 results, NEET (UG) – the national entrance examination conducted by the NTA for admission to undergraduate medical programmes – made headlines due to allegations of paper leak which led to the cancellation of the May 3 examination.
“They claim to be ‘Vishwaguru’, but are unable to conduct even a single exam within the country – Modi ji has completely destroyed the entire education system,” Gandhi said in his X post.
Attacking the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition said in the Lok Sabha: “The same generation whose future you are destroying, this same generation will hold you accountable.”
Kejriwal says, “The country needs an educated prime minister.”
National Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal also criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the agitation at CUET-UG 2026 and said the country “needs an educated Prime Minister”.
In a post on X, Kejriwal wrote: “The country needs an educated Prime Minister,” while responding to a post by AAP leader Atishi highlighting the difficulties faced by students at the examination center in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
In a self-made video later shared on his X handle, Kejriwal asked if the Union government’s decision to use Air Force vehicles for NEET retest would prevent paper leakage.
“Air Force ships will be used to stop paper leakage in NEET. Will this stop paper leakage? How can our government talk like uneducated people? They don’t even have the intention to stop paper leakage. The entire education system of the country has fallen into the clutches of mafia,” Kejriwal said.
He also added, “To fix this, everyone is going to have to come together and do something. It’s not going to happen when one person does something alone.”
He added: “There are a lot of exam papers all over the world, and they are not being transported anywhere, one way or another, in bulletproof Air Force trucks. This government is just a show. They are pretending to take action, but they have no real intention of fixing the system. The leaks will continue.”
