Two hours after the National Testing Agency (NTA) apprised candidates of technical glitches at several exam centres and announced compensatory time for morning shift students, they were asked to leave the examination centres in Noida. According to sources, students waiting for hours outside an exam centre were told to go back as the exam had been rescheduled. K Krithivasan, CEO & MD of Tata Consultancy Services, who is the technology service provider for NTA has issued an official statement saying that the ‘issue was promptly identified and resolved.’
However, Times Now has learnt that some students and their parents travelled from faraway places and were waiting outside the exam premises for Shift 1 since 7 AM. “Our biometrics and attendance process was completed,” they said, adding that by 11 AM, they were asked to leave the examination centre.
A huge crowd gathered at an exam centre in Noida Sector 64, leading to massive outrage and sloganeering against the Education Minister for playing with students’ futures.
Narrating their ordeal, students and parents said that they felt helpless due to yet another glitch and asked the ministry to step down over repeated failures.
When candidates with exams scheduled for the evening session started entering the centres, several students and their parents from the morning shift crowded around the entry gates of the examination centre to seek clarity regarding the status of the disrupted examination and the next course of action.
Except at the Noida centre , the exam at numerous centres across cities including Varanasi and Lucknow began late. “We came to give the exam at 9 o’clock. The gate opened at 7 o’clock, and the gate closed at 8:30. The exam was supposed to start at 9:00, but it got delayed and started around 11:00 or 11:30,” a candidate told ANI.
Candidates Allowed to Reappear: NTA
NTA has posted an official tweet assuring that candidates who did their Biometric Registration and were present at their examination centres today but could not complete their examination due to technical glitch will get a chance to reappear.
”We know today’s unfortunate technical disruption caused distress for some CUET (UG) 2026 candidates,” the agency admits.
TCS issues statement, says ‘Issue was promptly identified and resolved’
K Krithivasan, CEO & MD of Tata Consultancy Services, who was technology service provider and infrastructure partner for the NTA, has issued an official statement that reads, “A brief technical issue caused a delay of around two hours in the CUET-UG examination in the morning shift today. The issue was promptly identified and resolved by our technical teams and the examination has since resumed without any impact on the sanctity of the exam. We regret the inconvenience.”
“Our teams are actively monitoring all systems. We remain committed to working closely with NTA to ensure seamless conduct of the computer-based tests,” the notice added.
‘No time left for preparation of upcoming exam’
Meanwhile, candidates who had to leave the exam centre without appearing for it were worried about their upcoming exam as they barely had any time left after standing in scorching heat for hours before travelling back to their accommodation.
Bashing the government for yet another exam failure, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi took to his X handle to write, “NEET. CBSE. SSC. And today CUET. Four exams. One crore children. Not a single one conducted with honesty.”
“Claims of ‘world guru,’ but can’t conduct even one exam in the country. Modi ji has completely ruined the entire education system. The generation whose future you are destroying, that same generation will hold you accountable,” the tweet added.
