Several students and parents thronged the office of the Karnataka Examinations Authority in Bengaluru on Wednesday where chaos prevailed over parents claiming that students for both online and offline verifications were called together, resulting in overcrowding.

The occasional spells of rains also resulted in many parents seeking shelter inside the office premises, only to increase the confusion even further, authorities have claimed.  

Meanwhile, in a press conference later in the day, Ramya, the executive director of the Karnataka Examinations Authority, which oversees the counselling for professional courses said that several students whose documents did not match with the claims made in applications had also barged in, leading to a confusion.

The KEA said that the caste certificates, categories, and income certificate claims of as many as 13,800 students could not be substantiated with proper evidence for the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (CET). “Despite several warnings, students failed to submit adequate evidence to the claims made in their applications. There were instructions that the Caste, category, income RD number had to be submitted. Many of them either failed to upload it or the documents did not match.

“Subsequently, BEO verifications had to be resorted to for rural and Kannada medium verification. A list of 1,800 candidates whose details did not tally was released on the website. However, only after the mock allotment, everyone started coming claiming they had forgotten or were unable to comprehend the right way of uploading it.

She said that unlike claims of mismanagement levelled by many parents, the KEA was not at fault. “UG NEET document verification is also underway at the office. Many created chaos after they were let in due to the rains. While the schedule was to permit 800 students, over 1,200 thronged the premises,” she claimed.