New Delhi, June 25 (IANS) The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Thursday opened the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) 2026 answer key challenge window while releasing the provisional answer keys for the June 21 re-test taken by more than 20 lakh students.

The window to challenge the answer key will close at 11:50 p.m. on June 28, a statement by NTA said on social media platform X.

“For accepting the challenges, the NTA will charge Rs 200 per question. In case of a challenge being accepted, the NTA will refund the money,” the statement added.

Earlier, the NTA credited the whole-of-government effort involving seven lakh officials for making the exam for 20 lakh aspirants error-free.

“Team NTA. Team Bharat. One exam, delivered together,” the NTA said in a post on X, reaffirming its commitment to uphold the sanctity of the medical admission test whose previous round on May 3 was forced to be cancelled due to irregularities.

The NTA highlighted the effort put in on June 21, showcasing the whole-of-government effort, the scale of it and the care for 10,000 differently-abled candidates that went into the successful conduct of the exam.

In a message on X, the NTA said, “Around seven lakh officials — police teams, observers and examination staff — were mobilised across India to conduct this examination, and it was done in a record 37 days.”

“NTA is especially grateful to the experts from academic institutions across the country who gave their personal time to help prepare multiple sets of question papers,” it added.

“More than 20 lakh aspirants. One exam. A country’s administrative machinery — Ministerial, bureaucratic, police, district and local — aligned behind a single day, so that each candidate could simply sit down and write,” it said.

“To every candidate who wrote on 21 June — well done. And to everyone who made it possible: thank you. Team NTA. Team Bharat. One exam, delivered together,” the NTA added.

Sharing details about the scale, the NTA said that more than 20 lakh candidates appeared for the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination across 5,440 centres in India and 14 centres abroad.

“The NEET-UG exam was administered in 13 languages, including Hindi and English. Today, we look back at the people and the coordination that made that day possible,” it added.

“This was not the National Testing Agency acting alone. It was Team Bharat — a chain of people across the country who showed up so that, for each candidate, the only thing that mattered that morning was the exam in front of them,” it said.

The NTA took special care of candidates with disabilities.

It said extensive arrangements were made for all candidates, including more than 10,000 Persons with Disabilities.

–IANS

rch/khz