A 17-YEAR-OLD CBSE STUDENT, SARTHAK SIDHANT hails from Jharkhand’s Ranchi, who questioned CBSE’s On-Screen Marking System, presented a seven-page copy of his findings before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth, and Sports on June 2, 2026, Tuesday. He alleged irregularities in the tendering process for vendor selection for online marking in the Class 12 exams. He felt there were at least 15 discrepancies in the process. Sarthak is popularly known as the whistleblower who pointed out anomalies in CBSE’s OSM system. 

This OSM issue triggers a controversy around the Central Board of Secondary Education’s transition towards the digital assessment for class 12 board examinations. The committee reviewed the Onscreen Marking System functioning and the concerns raised by the students regarding the transparency, evaluation, verification of marks and result distribution. Congress MP Digvijaya Singh chaired the meeting. The meeting was also attended by CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh, Secretary, Sanjay Kumar and other officials of the Ministry of Education.

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The Central Board of Secondary Education is facing criticism from students and parents over payment failures, technical problems and access-related problems during the verification and re-evaluation process of the Class 12th board examination result. The CBSE will close the portal for verification and are-evaluation on June 6, 2026.

Government removed two top CBSE officials

On June 2, 2026, Tuesday, the government removed two top CBSE officials following alleged irregularities in the Class 12 digital evaluation system and ordered a high-powered committee to investigate further. According to PTI, an official said that CBSE chairman Rahul Singh and Secretary Himanshu Gupta have been transferred.

Meeting with Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Congress party, recently met 17-year-old Ranchi student Sarthak Siddhant, whose allegations of irregularities in the On-Screen Marking System. Rahul Gandhi posted his picture with Sarthak Siddhant on his X handle and said ‘Sarthak Apne Sidhanto Pe Adig Raho’ means Sarthak, remain steadfast in your principles.

See Also: Called ‘Pakistani’ for Questioning CBSE”: Class 12th Vedant Finally Gets Correct Physics Answer Sheet

Who is Sarthak Sidhant?

A 17-year-old student, Sarthak Sidhant, pointed out discrepancies  in the CBSE’s online marking system. Sarthak also appeared for the CBSE Board Examination this year. Class 12th student, Sidhant first came into the spotlight when he questioned CBSE regarding the discrepancies between physical and digital versions of answer sheets which were evaluated under the newly involved OSM system. After a few days, he published a detailed analysis of the procurement documents related to the digital evaluation platform.

According to Sarthak Sidhant’s allegation, a comparison of various CBSE tender documents revealed anomalies that appeared to favour a particular service provider. He further mentioned that TCS and Coempt Edutech, had also applied for the On-Screen Marking System tender issued in February 2025. The class 12th students also said that the original tender was removed from the public records. 

According to Sarthak Sidhant, the eligibility and qualification criteria for blacklisting, past performance and turnover requirements were modified and altered in a way that enabled Coempt Edutech to qualify easily.

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