Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Thiru. C. Joseph Vijay has urged the Union Government to cancel the NEET based admissions in medical courses and to permit
the respective states to fill up seats based on Class 12 marks. His statement comes a day after the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test, Undergraduate (NEET UG) 2026 exam due to widespread paper leak. While Vijay has been vocally against NEET Ug since the beginning, this is the first time he has spoken about the issue in the capacity of a Chief Minister. Vijay shared that NEET was conducted for nearly 1.4 lakh students in his state alone. "The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG 2026) was conducted by the National Testing Agency on 3rd May 2026 across 5,432 centres. In Tamil Nadu alone, the examination was held across 31 cities. 22,05,035 candidates appeared for the examination, including approximately 1.4 lakh candidates from Tamil Nadu," he said in an official statement. He added that the cancellation of the medical entrance exam has "shattered the hopes of lakhs of medical aspirants across the country." He further pointed out that a similar paper leak had taken place in 2024 too, which had caused disruptions for students. "This is not the first time NEET has been compromised. In 2024, the question paper was leaked and FIRs were registered across six States and transferred to the CBI. Pursuant to the directions of the Supreme Court, the Union Government constituted a High-Level Committee of Experts under Dr K Radhakrishnan, former Chairman of ISRO, which submitted 95 comprehensive recommendations for reforms. Despite all this, within two years, another paper leak has occurred and the examination has been cancelled. This is conclusive proof of flaws and structural flaws in a national level exam," he stated. Considering the repeated leaks in NEET, he suggested complete scrapping of the medical entrance exam. As an alternate, he suggested, that the state government should be allowed to consider class 12 marks as eligibility in state medical colleges. "The Governments of Tamil Nadu, has been consistently and unanimously opposing NEET since its very inception. The introduction of NEET has severely disadvantaged the students from rural areas, Government schools, Tamil medium backgrounds, and socio-economically disadvantaged families. The Government of Tamil Nadu reiterates the State long pending demand to abolish NEET and permit the States to fill all seats under the State quota in MBBS, BDS, and AYUSH courses on the basis of Class 12 marks," Vijay said.
This is not the first time Vijay has opposed NEET UG. During the second leg of TVK’s special meet-and-greet in July 2024, actor Vijay alleged that NEET UG was an unjust exam, especially for students from impoverished, economically backward and oppressed classes. He also urged the departments of education and sanitation to be moved back to the State list from the Concurrent list. “Firstly, it’s against the rights of a state government. Before 1975, education was under the State list, and then the Union government moved it to the Concurrent list — I believe this is where the issue started," he had said in 2024.
Even in 2024, Vijay had suggested that lesson plans should be remodelled according to the states. "I am not just asking this to regain the rights of the state government, but to ensure that the educational system encourages the students to look at things from different perspectives. Diversity is a strength, not a weakness,” said actor Vijay. “Imagine the plight of a student who hails from the village and aspires to become a doctor.”
