‘BJP-Exam Mafia Nexus Exposed’
Around 9 crore students have been affected by nearly 90 paper leak incidents during BJP tenure, said the Congress
The Congress sharpened its attack on the Centre over the controversy surrounding the CBSE’s digital evaluation system, accusing the government of ignoring warnings, compromising standards, and failing to ensure accountability in the education sector.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Congress media and publicity department chairman Pawan Khera linked the issue to a broader pattern of examination-related failures under the BJP government and demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
“More than 9 crore students have been impacted by nearly 90 paper leak incidents during the BJP’s tenure,” Khera alleged. “Yet there has been no accountability. Not a single word has come from the Prime Minister accepting responsibility.”
Calling for immediate action, he said, “At the very least, the Prime Minister should remove Minister Pradhan. Students and parents deserve answers.”
‘Warnings were ignored before nationwide rollout’
Khera alleged that the Central Board of Secondary Education proceeded with the implementation of its On-Screen Marking (OSM) platform despite being aware of serious concerns flagged during a pilot exercise.
“A trial run conducted in January reportedly identified 36 major issues,” he said. “These included the possibility of superficial evaluation, inadequate moderation, weak oversight mechanisms, and significant technical shortcomings.”
Questioning the decision-making process, Khera asked, “Who recommended the nationwide rollout despite these warnings? Why were concerns raised during the pilot phase ignored?”
According to him, the new system resulted in widespread problems during the evaluation process.
“Thousands of students allegedly received blurred, incomplete, or unreadable copies of their answer sheets,” he claimed. “In some cases, pages were missing, duplicated, or even belonged to different students.”
Referring to media reports, Khera said, “More than 68,000 answer books reportedly had to be rescanned, while over 13,500 required manual evaluation after the digital platform failed to function properly.”
He further alleged that instead of addressing the concerns raised by students and parents, authorities attempted to defend the system.
“Rather than fixing the problems, CBSE coordinated what appears to be a scripted defence campaign through schools and principals using identical talking points,” he claimed.
‘Tender conditions were altered to favour a particular company’
The Congress leader also raised questions about the tendering process used to select the vendor for the On-Screen Marking system.
“CBSE reportedly had to issue three separate tenders before finalising a vendor,” Khera said. “The first tender attracted no bidders, while the second did not produce a technically qualified applicant.”
He alleged that eligibility requirements were repeatedly modified until COEMPT EduTek qualified for the contract.
“The eligibility criteria were changed step by step,” he claimed. “The software quality benchmark was reduced from CMMI Level 5 to Level 3. The required scan resolution was lowered from 300 DPI to 200 DPI. Mandatory provisions relating to robotic high-speed scanners were removed.”
Khera further alleged that other safeguards were weakened during the process.
“Clauses dealing with poor past performance, abandoned projects and financial weaknesses were dropped,” he said. “Even blacklisting provisions were diluted from companies that had been blacklisted in the past to only those currently blacklisted.”
Making direct allegations regarding the selection process, Khera said, “COEMPT EduTek received the contract only after technical standards, cybersecurity norms and eligibility conditions were weakened.”
He questioned why the company was chosen over larger and more established technology firms.
“Why was COEMPT EduTek selected over companies such as Tata Consultancy Services?” he asked. “Who took this decision and on what basis?”
Khera also referred to the company’s past operations, alleging links to earlier controversies.
“Why was the CBSE OSM contract awarded to a company with a questionable track record?” he asked. “Were proper background checks conducted? On whose instructions was this contract awarded? What is the relationship between the company’s management and the Modi government?”
The Congress maintained that the CBSE evaluation controversy, combined with repeated allegations of examination paper leaks across the country, reflected what it described as systemic failures in the education sector.
“The interests of students must come first,” Khera said. “Transparency, accountability and credibility in examinations cannot be compromised.”
