The National Testing Agency (NTA) released the final answer keys of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG on Thursday, paving way for the declaration of the delayed results for the undergraduate admission exam.

The NTA had on July 7 released the provisional answer keys of the CUET-UG 2024. A retest for over 1,000 candidates whose grievances were found genuine by the agency was conducted on July 19.

"The final answer key has been released and the result will be declared soon," a senior official of the agency said.

The delay in the CUET-UG results comes amid a row over alleged irregularities in competitive exams, including in NEET-UG and UGC-NET.

Originally, the CUET results were scheduled to be released on June 30 but the NTA delayed it, grappling with paper leak allegations involving NEET-UG, UGC-NET and CSIR-UGC-NET.

The CUET-UG exam conducted in a hybrid mode for the first time across the country was cancelled in Delhi a night before the scheduled exam day over "logistical reasons". The exam was conducted in the national capital later.

The NTA had earlier announced that the third edition of the CUET-UG will be completed in seven days and there will be no normalisation of scores as all exams will be conducted in a single shift.

For 15 subjects, the tests were in pen-paper mode and for the other 48 subjects, the exam was held in CBT mode. Over 13.4 lakh candidates registered for the test for admission to undergraduate courses in 261 central, state, deemed and private universities this year.

In the first edition of the exam in 2022, the test was plagued by technical glitches. Also, as a result of tests for a subject being conducted over multiple shifts, the scores had to be normalised during the announcement of results.

In a major setback to unsuccessful aspirants of NEET-UG 2024, the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed their pleas seeking the cancellation and re-test of the controversy-ridden exam, holding that there was no evidence on record to conclude that it was "vitiated" on account of "systemic breach" of its sanctity.

The verdict came as a shot in the arm for the embattled NDA government and the NTA, which were facing strong criticism and protests on streets and in Parliament over alleged large-scale malpractices like question paper leak, fraud and impersonation in the prestigious test held on May 5.

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