The review plea has been filed by ministers from West Bengal (Moloy Ghatak), Jharkhand (Rameshwar Oraon), Rajasthan (Raghu Sharma), Chhattisgarh (Amarjeet Bhagat), Punjab (BS Sidhu) and Maharashtra (Uday Ravindra Sawant).

The petition said as per the NTA, approximately 9.53 lakh and 15.97 lakh students have registered for JEE (Main) and NEET (UG), respectively. The plea said JEE Mains is slated to be conducted over 660 exam centres with 9.53 lakhs students appearing for it, roughly 1,443 students per centre. Similarly for NEET UG, 15.97 lakhs students will appear in 3,843 centres across the country, nearly 415 students per centre, it said.

Meanwhile, in data released yesterday, the Education Ministry revealed that out of the total 458,521 students who had registered to sit for the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE)-Mains for admission to engineering colleges, at least 114,563 students dropped out from appearing in the first three days.

The dropout number — approximate 25 per cent — takes the spotlight back on the demand for a change in exam dates due to the ranging Covid-19 pandemic. Only 343,958 went to give the exams on the first three days. About 54.67 per cent aspirants gave the exam on day one, 81 per cent gave it on day two and day three say an attendance of 82 per cent.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts both exams, is holding JEE Main Exams from September 1 to September 6, while NEET will be held on September 13.