It said the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), involved in conducting the test, reported a technical glitch, prompting NTA to initially revise the afternoon session timing and allow full compensatory time. It asked the technical service provider to conduct a root-cause analysis and submit its report immediately.

“We understand that 3,765 candidates who were present and had completed biometric registration chose to leave before the exam could restart. For these candidates, NTA will hold a rescheduled examination as a one-time measure,” the testing agency said in a post on X. Details of the fresh examination, it said, would be announced separately.

Earlier in the day, the NTA had announced that candidates affected by the disruption would be given another opportunity to appear for the examination.

The afternoon session was also pushed back by an hour. According to the revised timing, reporting and entry for the afternoon session began from 2.30 pm, while the examination began at 4 pm instead of 3 pm.

The NTA said candidates in the morning session were being given the full duration of the paper. The agency also said it “sincerely regrets the inconvenience caused to students and parents”.

Meanwhile, TCS CEO and MD K Krithivasan said a brief technical issue caused a delay of around two hours in the morning shift of the CUET-UG examination. “The issue was promptly identified and resolved by our technical teams and the examination has since resumed without any impact to the sanctity of the exam,” he said. Krithivasan said teams were actively monitoring all systems and would ensure seamless conduct of computer-based tests.

At some centres, candidates said there was confusion on the ground before the revised arrangement was communicated.

At Adarsh Pariksha Kendra in Noida Sector 64, some candidates said they were asked to leave the facility around 11 am after waiting for several hours. They said entry had begun around 7 am, but the examination could not begin because of server-related issues and technical errors.

A CUET candidate from Delhi, whose examination centre was in Noida, said candidates had come from several places, including Delhi, Haryana and Jaipur to take the examination.

“We were allowed entry from 7 am and kept waiting. There were server-related issues and technical errors. The invigilators told us they were unable to download the question papers. Later, we were told that further communication would be intimated by the NTA,” the candidate said, adding that many candidates had left the examination centre after being told to leave the premises.

The disruption caused inconvenience to candidates and parents, particularly those who had travelled from other states to the designated examination centres.

A woman, whose daughter appeared for the CUET examination at the Ion Digital Centre in Sector 62, Noida, said students were made to wait for nearly two-and-a-half hours amid uncertainty over whether the examination would be conducted.

“Initially, they were informed that the exam had been cancelled. Despite this, they were not allowed to leave and told to remain seated inside the classrooms,” she said.

“By the time the examination began, students had already spent hours in the heat, while enduring stress and uncertainty. They were physically drained, mentally fatigued and visibly irritated,” she said.