Nagpur NEET aspirant chose Abu Dhabi exam centre during city correction window: NTA

The testing agency says web records show the city change was made through the candidate's own login; centre has since been shifted back to Nagpur

Nagpur NEET aspirant's Abu Dhabi centre row: NTA says candidate changed city himself, still resolves issue

The NEET-UG re-exam is scheduled to be held on June 21 at over 5,400 centres in 550 cities (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh/ representative)

By: Education Desk

3 min readNew DelhiJun 21, 2026 08:25 PM IST First published on: Jun 20, 2026 at 04:47 PM IST

A day after a Nagpur family alleged that the National Testing Agency (NTA) had erroneously allotted their son an examination centre in Abu Dhabi for the NEET-UG 2026 re-examination, the NTA on Saturday clarified the buzz around the same. In a post shared on the microblogging site X, the Agency said that the NEET aspirant’s city change was made through the candidate’s own registered login during the examination-city correction window and not due to any administrative error on the Agency’s part.

NEET UG 2026 Re-Exam Live Updates

The testing agency said the access pattern in the case showed “consistent single-user activity,” suggesting the Abu Dhabi centre was selected by the candidate himself during the correction window that was reopened following the rescheduling of NEET-UG 2026. For more information on the exam analysis, visit the IE Education Portal.

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What NTA’s records show?

According to the agency, around 3.2 lakh candidates used the city correction window after the exam was rescheduled, and NTA allotted the preferred city to over 99.5 per cent of them.

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

On the specific Abu Dhabi case, NTA said its records show the centre was changed to Abu Dhabi using the candidate’s credentials on one occasion, and that the Abu Dhabi centre was previewed — and therefore visible to the user — on two separate occasions before the process was completed.

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“Despite that,” the agency said, it chose to act on the candidate’s request.

The family had lodged a complaint with the NTA helpline on the evening of June 19 — less than 48 hours before the examination. The agency said its personnel immediately initiated the centre change and contacted the candidate’s father the same evening to help the family complete the formal process.

The centre has since been shifted back to Nagpur. “NTA’s priority is that no candidate misses the examination over an administrative doubt,” the agency said, describing its approach as “student-first.”

What has happened?

A NEET-UG 2026 aspirant from Nagpur was allotted an exam centre in Abu Dhabi just a day before the re-examination, despite choosing Nagpur as his preferred city. His new NEET admit card listed the Abu Dhabi Indian School in the UAE as his examination centre. According to the family, the student had listed Nagpur as his first preference, followed by Wardha and Bhandara, reports news agency ANI.

The Director General, Abhishek Singh, clarified that the issue regarding a Nagpur-based student being allotted an examination centre in Abu Dhabi for the NEET UG 2026 re-exam has been resolved. Speaking to ANI, NTA DG Abhishek Singh stated that the discrepancy has been rectified and the student has been assigned a centre in their home city.

The NEET-UG 2026 re-examination is scheduled for June 21 across 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad, with more than 22.79 lakh candidates registered to appear. The examination will be held in pen-and-paper mode from 2 pm to 5:15 pm.