Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has on Wednesday directed State Chief Secretary to write to National Testing Agency (NTA) for placing Akanksha Singh at the first position in All India Rank for National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2020 along with Soyeb Aftab, reported news agency ANI.
For the uninitiated, both Soyeb Aftab and Akanksha Singh scored 720 out of 720 marks in NEET 2020. However, Soyeb Aftab was ranked first in the results while Akanksha Singh was placed second despite equal marks.
This was because of NTA's tie-breaking policy. The policy takes into account factors such as age, subject-wise marks and number of incorrect answers. Since they tied on subject-wise marks and the number of incorrect answers, their age became the deciding factor. Hence, Soyeb was ranked ahead of Akanksha.
"Soyeb Aftab of Odisha and Akanksha Singh of Delhi have both scored perfect 720 score in the NEET examination. However, as Aftab is older, he has been ranked at the top in the national ranking," an official had said.
"The ranking of the candidate is initially determined based on the scores obtained in Biology and Chemistry. Following these, in cases where the candidates cannot be shortlisted using the scores obtained in the examination, candidates are further shortlisted taking into consideration the number of answers that are incorrect, following which they are then shortlisted depending on their age. The elder one gets the preference," the official further explained.
Meanwhile, Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday felicitated Akanksha Singh, terming her as a role model for all girls.
While congratulating Akanksha, who is a native of Kushinagar district of the state, the Chief Minister announced that the entire expenditure of her graduation level studies along with food and lodging would be borne by the state government, a government spokesman said.
The CM also congratulated her parents and members of the family. She has achieved her target through hard work and perseverance, the chief minister added.
(With PTI inputs)
