Akansha Singh, a student from Delhi, had to lose out on her first position at the recently declared National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) results, despite scoring 720 out of 720.

The reason for she not being declared as the joint topper along with Soyeb Aftab is because she is “underaged”.

2020 had to lost the top rank due to her younger age.

According to the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) tie-breaking policy, factors such as age, subject-wise marks and number of incorrect answers are taken into account.

As per reports, the girl had to lose the top rank to Odisha’s SoyebAftab due to the age barrier.

“SoyebAftab of Odisha and Akansha Singh of Delhi have both scored perfect 720 scores in the NEET examination. However, as Aftab is older, he has been ranked at the top in the national ranking,” an official said.

“The ranking of the candidate is initially determined based on the scores obtained in Biology and Chemistry. Following these, in cases where the candidates cannot be shortlisted using the scores obtained in the examination, candidates are further shortlisted taking into consideration the number of answers that are incorrect, following which they are then shortlisted depending on their age. The elder one gets the preference,” the official added.

The NTA had announced the results of the NEET-UG 2020 exam on Friday.

As per the official data, a total of 15,97,435 candidates registered for the NEET 2020 exam. Out of the total number of registered candidates, only 13,66,945 appeared for NEET 2020 held on September 13 and on October 14.

The test was offered in 11 languages — English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu — this year.

After a delay for several months due to lockdown and Covid19 pandemic, NEET 2020 examination was conducted on September 13, 2020.

As per the order of the Supreme Court, a special examination of NEET 2020 was conducted on October 14 as many of the candidates could not appear for the first attempt on September 13 due to the Covid19 pandemic situation.

The candidates, who have cleared the NEET 2020 will get admissions into medical colleges on the basis of their scores in the entrance test.

The NTA will release the counselling details for the admission process soon