In his letter, Rahul Gandhi also asked for additional safeguards against such data leaks. (File)
Congress president Rahul Gandhi has written a letter to the CBSE over media reports claiming a "massive breach" of data of candidates who appeared for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test this year, and demanded an inquiry into the matter.
In the letter to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) chairperson Anita Karwal, he called for putting in place additional safeguards to prevent such a breach in the future.
Drawing attention to the recent media reports regarding the "massive breach" of candidate data, Mr Gandhi, in his letter, said, "It is alleged that this data is available on certain websites for a price, and has leaked the data of over 2,00,000 students".
The reports claimed that personal data, including names, phone numbers and email ids of over 2,00,000 candidates, who appeared for CBSE's National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) this year, were available for a price on some online portals.
"I am shocked by this wide scale theft of personal data that has compromised the privacy of candidates across the country," Mr Gandhi wrote in the letter dated July 20.
He said it highlighted the "serious lack of safeguards" to prevent data breach, and calls into question the ability of the CBSE to ensure the sanctity of the examination process.
"I strongly urge you to order an inquiry against this shocking lapse and take action against the officials responsible for the same. In addition, I request you to put additional safeguards to prevent the recurrence of such data breaches," Mr Gandhi said.
The CBSE conducted the NEET on May 6 in 136 cities in 11 languages, the results of which were announced on June 4.