Claims and counterclaims were exchanged between Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday as the former alleged “massive tampering” with the board’s On-Screen Marking (OSM) system to assess Class 12 board exam papers.
Rahul Gandhi claimed that the CBSE failed to answer questions raised over alleged irregularities in the evaluation.
CBSE’s new OSM system was used for digital evaluation of answer sheets for class 12 exams this time. The issue heated up after reports of glitches, alleged mismatches in answer scripts, and online trolling of a student who flagged discrepancies in his evaluated papers, appeared on social media.
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Rahul Gandhi alleges ‘massive tampering’
Gandhi, on X, claimed that “millions of children across the country and their parents” were left “in shock” due to alleged manipulation in CBSE exam results.
“There has been a massive tampering in the CBSE exam results, leaving millions of children across the country and their parents in shock,” Gandhi wrote. He alleged that the company COEMPT, which was awarded the contract related to the digital evaluation process, had earlier operated under the name Globarena and was involved in controversies in Telangana in 2019.
“Name changed but the intent the same, the nature the same,” Gandhi said.
He questioned why the contract was awarded to the company and alleged that procedures may have been bypassed. “This isn’t a mistake, it’s a deliberate conspiracy,” he wrote.
“And Mr Modi? As always, no answers, no accountability, no shame,” he wrote, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Gandhi also raised four questions regarding the award of the contract:
- “Why was the CBSE contract given to COEMPT, and on whose orders?”
- “Which rules and procedures were bypassed to award this contract to the company?”
- “COEMPT had already been embroiled in controversies under the name Globarena, why didn’t CBSE know about it? Why weren’t background checks done?”
- “What exactly is the connection between COEMPT’s management and the Modi government?”
The Congress leader demanded an independent judicial inquiry and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the matter.
CBSE rejects allegations
Responding to Gandhi’s remarks, CBSE issued a statement denying wrongdoing in the award of the contract. “CBSE rejects the allegations regarding the award of contract to Coempt Edutech. It is erroneous, misleading and not based on facts,” the board said.
CBSE added that due process had been followed while awarding the contract.
“CBSE has followed the General Financial Rules protocols scrupulously in the awarding of the contract to the agency. CBSE floated the RFP for Digital Evaluation of Answer books for Board Exams 2026 on Central Public Procurement portal on 28.08.2025 and awarded the contract to the qualified bidder,” it said.
Rahul Gandhi says ‘denial is not an answer’
Soon after CBSE’s response, Gandhi posted again on X, saying the board had failed to answer the questions he had raised.
“A denial is not an answer,” Gandhi wrote. “Why are the Education Minister and CBSE unable to answer the four simple questions I have asked?” “The future of 18.5 lakh students have been put in jeopardy. They deserve the truth,” he added.
What the CBSE OSM row is
The problem came to light after Vedant Shrivastava, a Class 12 student, requested scanned copies of his answer sheets through the CBSE re-evaluation process due to unexpectedly low marks in Physics.
After receiving the documents on May 23, Shrivastava claimed the Physics answer sheet linked to his roll number did not belong to him. He posted side-by-side screenshots of his English and Computer Science papers on X to show that the handwriting on the Physics script was completely different.
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“I studied for an entire year. I sacrificed sleep, peace of mind, outings, everything for these exams. And now I don’t even know whether my actual Physics paper was checked. Do students really deserve this?” Shrivastava wrote.
Following his post, Shrivastava was heavily trolled online. Some users even called him “Pakistani” and “anti-national.” Rahul Gandhi spoke out in support of the 17-year-old, accusing the BJP IT cell of targeting the student for seeking justice.
“A 17-year-old boy, whose answer sheet was wrongly evaluated, turned to social media in hope of justice. But instead of help, he got abuse—BJP’s IT cell branded him an ‘anti-national’, called him a ‘Soros agent’, a part of the ‘Deep State’,” Gandhi wrote on X.
Evaluators and parents have also criticised the new OSM system, saying that it introduced an unfamiliar workflow, recorded marks incorrectly, and produced poor-quality scans.
CBSE’s clarification
CBSE earlier dismissed claims that its OSM portal had been compromised. The exam board said the URL cited in social media posts and some news reports was only a testing site with sample data and not the actual platform used for evaluating board exam answer sheets.
“The Portal used for evaluation of answer-books bore a different URL, which has neither been compromised nor does it have the vulnerabilities indicated in the said social media post,” the board said. They added that “no security breaches have come to light” on the evaluation portal.
CBSE also said the OSM system was introduced to enhance transparency in assessments and has “strong safeguards” and grievance redressal mechanisms built into it.
