Odisha's Soyeb Aftab bagged the top rank attaining a perfect score as the result of the medical entrance exam NEET was announced on Friday. Delhi girl Akanksha Singh secured the second rank, according to officials of the National Testing Agency (NTA). In a first, both Soyeb Aftab and Akanksha Singh secured 720 out of 720 which made them attain 99.99 percentile.
A controversy has erupted over the issue of National Testing Agency (NTA) awarding first rank to Aftab and second rank to Akanksha from Delhi despite both of them securing a perfect score in the result of 2020 NEET examination.
Clarifying on the issue, a senior official of the NTA explained, as per NTA’s tie-breaking rules, when two candidates secure the same marks, their ranks are determined based on their scores obtained in Biology and Chemistry.
As Aftab and Akanksha have attained perfect score, the question of comparison of their marks does not arise. In such cases, the NTA chooses the criteria of difference in the age between candidates to assign ranks to them. Candidates who are older in age will be given preference over the younger ones.
Hence, in this case, reportedly it is because of the age criterion that 18-year-old Soyeb Aftab has been ranked at first position as he is slightly older than Akanksha Singh after the NEET 2020 result was declared.