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The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday issued a clarification after a NEET UG 2026 re-examination candidate from Nagpur was allotted an examination centre in Abu Dhabi for the test scheduled on June 21.

According to a senior NTA official, the candidate had changed his examination city preferences through the portal, selecting Abu Dhabi as his first choice and Dubai as the second.

The clarification came after the student's family claimed that he had originally opted for centres in Nagpur, Wardha and Bhandara.

NTA Cites Portal Records And IP Address Details

The NTA said records showed that the candidate logged into the portal on May 21 and modified his examination city preferences.

Reference the issue with regard to allotment of a centre in Abu Dhabi to a candidate in Nagpur, NTA would like to state the following:

Following the rescheduling of NEET (UG) 2026 to 21 June, the National Testing Agency reopened the examination-city correction window to assist…

— National Testing Agency (@NTA_Exams) June 20, 2026

"Records show that on May 21, the candidate logged in and changed his examination city preferences, selecting Abu Dhabi as the first choice and Dubai as the second. The same IP address, traced to Nagpur, was used to download his admit card for the May 3 examination," HT reported.

The official further said that the candidate updated bank details for a refund using the same IP address on May 24.

"He (candidate) also updated his bank details for a refund on May 24, accessed the city intimation slip on June 10 and downloaded his admit card on June 16 using the same IP address,” the official said.

In a post on X, the NTA stated that the examination centre was changed to Abu Dhabi on three occasions using the candidate's credentials and that the allotted centre was previewed twice as Abu Dhabi.

The agency also said that although it received an "informal request on the evening of June 19" to shift the centre to Nagpur, the centre had already been changed.

Admit Card Downloaded On June 16, Says NTA

The NTA said neither the candidate nor his family contacted the agency after downloading the admit card on June 16.

“We have complete logs of his activities on the NEET portal. Despite downloading the admit card on June 16, neither the candidate nor his family contacted the NTA and did not send any mail regarding this. Instead, his father approached the media on June 20, just a day before the exam. We are now allotting him a centre in Nagpur, but our cyber team is examining whether the changes were made by the candidate himself or by someone who may have gained access to his account,” the official said.

The official added that this was the only instance of a candidate being allotted an overseas examination centre and said no other similar cases had come to light.

“We have accommodated requests from several candidates seeking changes in examination centres at the last minute,” the official added.

Family Says Candidate Chose Nagpur

The candidate and his family maintained that Nagpur had been selected as the preferred examination city for the June 21 test.

According to the family, the student does not possess a passport and could not have travelled abroad at such short notice.

"We are completely unable to send our child abroad for the exam. He does not even have a passport, and there is no time left to make travel arrangements," the student's father, Mohammad Talib, told ANI.

Political Reaction And Re-Examination Details

The issue triggered political reactions, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticising the NTA and saying the agency was "testing the patience of the country."

The matter surfaced on Saturday as a nationwide mock drill was being conducted ahead of the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination.

The re-examination will be held on June 21 from 2 pm to 5.15 pm in pen-and-paper mode across 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad for more than 22.79 lakh candidates.