New Delhi/IBNS: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the central education ministry cancelled the UGC-NET exam, which has been conducted by the National Testing Agency.

Kharge posted in Hindi on X, "... Cancellation of UGC-NET exam is a victory of the spirit of millions of students.

This is the defeat of the arrogance of the Modi government due to which they made a despicable attempt to trample the future of our youth. The Union Education Minister had earlier said that no paper was leaked in NEET.

"When arrests are made of education mafia in Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana, the Education Minister accepts that some scam has taken place! When will the NEET exam be cancelled? Modi Ji, please take the responsibility of stopping your government's rigging and paper leak in NEET exam too!"

Over 9 lakh candidates appeared for the exam, which is held for Assistant Professor recruitments in universities and colleges as well as to determine eligibility for junior research fellowships.

In a statement, the Education Ministry said the June exam of the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) was conducted on Tuesday in OMR (pen and paper) mode in two shifts across the country.

"On 19th June, 2024, the University Grants Commission (UGC) received certain inputs from National Cyber Crime Threat Analytics Unit of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs on the Examination. These inputs prima facie indicate that the integrity of the aforesaid examination may have been compromised," it said.

The ministry said it was announcing the cancellation of the June 2024 examination "to ensure the highest level of transparency and sanctity of the examination process" and that it will be held afresh at a date announced later.

There have been reports of the paper of the examination being leaked, but this was not confirmed by the ministry. It said only that the matter had been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation for investigation.

The UGC-NET is conducted twice every year, in June and December.