Rahul Gandhi meets Gen Z whistleblower who flagged alleged CBSE OSM irregularities
Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi met Ranchi student Sarthak Siddhant at Parliament House after the 17-year-old alleged irregularities in CBSE's On-Screen Marking system and the associated tender process.
Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi met 17-year-old Ranchi student Sarthak Siddhant, whose allegations of irregularities in CBSE's On-Screen Marking (OSM) system and the related tender process have drawn national attention.
Rahul Gandhi sought details from the Class 12 student about the discrepancies he claims to have uncovered after independently scrutinising official documents related to the OSM project.
STUDENT INVITED TO PRESENT VIEWS BEFORE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE
Sarthak Siddhant, a resident of Ranchi in Jharkhand, was also invited to Parliament House on Tuesday to present his findings before a parliamentary committee. The 17-year-old appeared for the CBSE Class 12 Board examinations this year and is among the lakhs of students affected by the Board's newly introduced marking system.
After concerns emerged regarding the new evaluation process, Sarthak applied for a scanned copy of his answer sheet as part of the re-evaluation procedure.
Upon reviewing the document, he reportedly developed doubts about the system and began independently examining CBSE tender records related to the OSM project.
Over several days, the student scrutinised multiple tender documents and shared his observations through social media posts and a detailed blog, claiming to have identified several discrepancies in the procurement process.
ALLEGATIONS OF CHANGES IN TENDER CONDITIONS
According to Sarthak, a comparison of various CBSE tender documents revealed anomalies that appeared to favour a particular service provider. He alleged that two companies, TCS and Coempt Edutech, had applied for the OSM tender issued in February 2025.
The student further claimed that the original tender was later removed from public records and that the conditions in a subsequent tender were modified. According to his allegations, eligibility criteria related to blacklisting, past performance and turnover requirements were altered in a manner that enabled Coempt Edutech to qualify more easily.