BJP MP Anurag Thakur launched a sharp attack on the Congress, accusing it of failing students and supporting those involved in paper leaks. This comes as the Lok Sabha passed the Public Examinations Bill, 2026 to bring in stricter punishments.

BJP MP Anurag Thakur on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the Congress, accusing the party of failing to work in the interest of students and alleging that it had supported those involved in examination paper leaks during its governments. Thakur alleged that the highest number of paper leak incidents took place under Congress-led governments. He also criticised the Opposition's remarks during the debate, stating that their arguments completely drifted away from the core focus of the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 in Lok Sabha.

"Yesterday, there was a 9-hour discussion. In those 9 hours, Congress couldn't utter even 9 words on the bill. Congress was never in favour of students' interests before, nor is it today," he told ANI. "Those who are on bail in corruption cases, whose government put students in jail, whose government had the highest number of paper leak incidents... Congress honours those who orchestrate paper leaks," he added.

Meanwhile, Lok Sabha has passed the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 after a brief reply by Union Minister Jitendra Singh, who took several digs at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, alleging that he had used unparliamentary language and that "is he even aware of basic parliamentary norms". The Bill witnessed a marathon debate that began at 2 pm on Tuesday and continued until 11 pm. The discussion resumed in the House on Wednesday before the legislation was passed.

Public Examinations Bill proposes stricter punishments

The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 proposes stricter punishments for individuals involved in unfair practices during public examinations. It seeks to increase the minimum imprisonment period from the existing three years, extendable up to five years, to not less than five years, extendable up to ten years. The Bill also proposes increasing the maximum fine from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh for those involved in examination-related unfair means.

For service providers found involved in offences, the Bill proposes to increase the maximum fine to Rs 5 crore and extend the period of debarment from conducting any public examination from four years to eight years.

For organised examination-related crimes, the Amendment Bill proposes to increase the minimum term of imprisonment from five years to seven years, extendable up to ten years, while enhancing the maximum fine from Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore. (ANI)

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