Challenging the NEET-PG 2026 answer key disclosure, a doctors’ body has asked the Supreme Court to direct the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences to show every NEET-PG 2026 candidate the actual questions and options they faced, contending that the numerical codes released by the board make it impossible to check whether scores were calculated correctly in an exam where each paper is shuffled.
New Delhi: The Democratic Medical Association has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) notice dated October 1, 2026, to the extent that it limits post-result disclosure for NEET-PG 2026 to numerical identifiers, and seeking candidate-specific access to the actual questions, options and correct answers [Democratic Medical Association v. Union of India and Others].
The petition, registered as Diary No. 61065/2026, has been filed through Advocate Satyam Singh Rajpoot and Advocate-on-Record Neema. NEET-PG 2026 was held on August 30, 2026 and its results were declared on September 24.
What NBEMS has released
Under the October 1 notice, candidates can view a question-wise evaluation through their applicant logins. According to the petition, this shows a Question ID, the numerical ID of the correct answer, the candidate’s recorded response and the marks awarded for each question, but not the text of the question or of the options in the order the candidate actually saw them on screen.
The petition states that candidates had specifically asked NBEMS for the actual question paper, the official answer key and their recorded responses rather than identifiers. It claims the board answered such grievances with standard replies describing the declared results as “factual and correct” and pointing candidates to Point No. 9 of its public notice of September 24.
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Why the shuffling matters
The core of the challenge lies in the way the exam is set. NBEMS, the petitioner points out, shuffles both the sequence of questions and the order of options separately for each candidate. In that format, being told that one numbered option was correct and another numbered option was chosen tells the candidate nothing about what those options actually said, or whether the right question and option sequence was linked to their record.
At best, the petition argues, the present system allows a candidate to recheck the arithmetic of their marks. It does not allow them to test the answer key itself, to flag ambiguous questions or questions with more than one correct answer, or to detect errors in how questions, options and responses were mapped to their individual paper.
Reliefs Sought On The NEET-PG 2026 Answer Key
The Association asks the Court to quash the October 1 notice insofar as it confines disclosure to Question IDs, numerical answer and response IDs and question-wise marks, and to direct NBEMS to make the full candidate-wise examination record available through individual logins. That record, it says, should show each question in the order presented, the complete options in the candidate’s own sequence, the recorded response, the correct answer under the final key and the marks awarded, and should be downloadable as a permanent electronic copy in PDF, CSV or a similar format.
It further seeks a time-bound window for candidates to object to specific questions once they have seen them, a subject-expert committee to decide those objections with liberty to place authoritative medical material before it, and consequential correction of scores and ranks wherever errors are found. Looking beyond this year, the petition asks for guidelines or a standard operating procedure to build a transparent post-examination disclosure system into future postgraduate medical entrance exams.
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Background and urgency
The petition refers to Upendra Yadav v. National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences, in which the manner of disclosing Question IDs, answer keys and responses with reference to the Master Set of NEET-PG 2025 was questioned, and contends that the demand for an intelligible and verifiable disclosure mechanism has resurfaced across successive exam cycles.
On urgency, the petitioner notes that NEET-PG 2026 scores and ranks will decide counselling and admissions. Any delay in giving candidates a real chance to verify and correct their scores, it argues, risks counselling moving ahead before errors can be fixed.
The claims made in the petition are yet to be tested, and NBEMS and the Union Government have not yet responded before the Court.
Case Title: Democratic Medical Association v. Union of India and Others
Case Number: Diary No. 61065/2026
Court: Supreme Court of India
For the Petitioner: Satyam Singh Rajpoot, Advocate; Neema, Advocate-on-Record