The developments have raised fresh questions on the reliability of power and technology infrastructure at centres conducting high-stakes national exams. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
A computer-based examination centre in Jaipur’s Sitapura area came under scrutiny on Monday (August 31, 2026) after technical problems disrupted an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) recruitment exam, a day after an internal power failure at the same facility forced the cancellation of the NEET-PG 2026 exam for 2,445 candidates.
The developments have raised fresh questions on the reliability of power and technology infrastructure at centres conducting high-stakes national exams.
The National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) had earlier said that the NEET-PG 2026 exam had been successfully conducted for the overwhelming majority of candidates on Sunday (August 29, 2026). More than 2.65 lakh candidates appeared at 1,111 centres across the country.
However, the exam could not be completed at two iON Digital Zone centres in Sitapura, Jaipur — test centre numbers 41682 and 41683 — because of an internal power supply failure.
NBEMS has scheduled a fresh examination for the 2,445 affected candidates on September 5 at 3 p.m. in Jaipur.
But the issue resurfaced on Monday (August 31). The same iON Digital Zone facility was being used for the AIIMS Common Recruitment Examination-5 (CRE-5). The institute cancelled the CRE-5 at two exam centres in Jaipur following a disruption caused by internal power supply issues, a source at AIIMS Delhi said.
The exam was conducted across the country on Monday (August 31), the source said. At the two affected centres — RJ0101 and RJ0102 at iON Digital Zone in Sitapura, Jaipur, operated by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) — the test had commenced at 9 a.m. as scheduled.
However, the disruption subsequently affected the conduct of the examination, prompting AIIMS to cancel the test at the two centres. The decision, the institute said, was taken in the interest of the affected candidates and to ensure a fair, transparent and equitable recruitment process.
Around 2,000 candidates were registered at the two centres. Of these, 1,342 candidates appeared at the RJ0101 centre, and 436 at RJ0102.
AIIMS has scheduled a re-examination for the affected candidates on September 7, 2026.
The institute has also directed TCS, which operates the exam centres, to submit a detailed report on the incident. TCS has been instructed to preserve system logs, CCTV footage, and control room communications to facilitate a comprehensive assessment of the disruption.
The NEET-PG 2026 exam was successfully conducted for more than 2.63 lakh candidates across 1,111 centres in the country on Sunday (August 29), Venguswamy Ramaswamy, head of the iON Business Unit, TCS, said in a statement.
On Monday (August 31), the AIIMS CRE-5 was conducted for more than 21,000 candidates across 58 centres. The expert team from the vendors responsible for electrical maintenance was working on fixing the issue urgently. Further, all possible measures were being put in place to avoid recurrence of such issues in future, the TCS statement added.
“We deeply regret the inconvenience this has caused to the candidates undertaking the NEET-PG 2026 exam and AIIMS CRE at the centre and are working with the respective authorities to ensure that the candidates are able to complete these exams at the earliest,” the statement said.
Published – August 31, 2026 11:13 pm IST
