New Delhi: Thousands of postgraduate medical aspirants appearing for the May 2026 Institute of National Importance Combined Entrance Test (INI-CET) have flagged delays in admission and allotment of exam centers hundreds of kilometers away, barely a week before the May 16 exam.The exam conducted by AIIMS Delhi released the admit cards on May 9 around 3 pm, but candidates alleged that the website became slow or crashed soon after, leaving many unable to download the hall tickets for about 9-10 hours. Many students said they could access the portal only after midnight, leading to a flood of complaints on social media.Dr Aman Kumar (@manish__aman) tweeted, “You charge ₹4,000 for the application form and yet the website crashes for hours.”According to AIIMS officials, heavy traffic from simultaneous logins slowed down the portal temporarily. “If one lakh people access a website at the same time, it may slow down or crash. This happens with many exams, including NEET. The site is now working properly and candidates are able to download the admit card,” officials said.Candidates also flagged the allotment of distant examination centres. Candidates from larger states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan said they were allotted centers 500-800 km away because INI-CET collected only state-wise preferences during registration and not city-wise.An Agra-based candidate said he was allotted Varanasi, about 650 km away, while a Mumbai-based candidate claimed he got Nanded as the centre, increasing travel costs and logistics difficulties. Students said it could take 12-24 hours to travel to states like UP and Rajasthan, while the seven-day gap between the release of admit cards and the exam leaves little time for confirmed train or flight booking.“There are hundreds of such cases,” said one candidate, urging AIIMS to review the center allocation process.On complaints regarding distant centres, AIIMS officials said the allotment depends on seat availability and preference pattern, adding that candidates are asked to fill state-wise preferences instead of city-wise preferences to prevent possible malpractices in center allotment. “The effort is always to allot the nearest possible centre, but in larger states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, some candidates may still get centers 500-800 km away if nearby seats are already filled,” officials said.Dr Naval K, Associate Dean (Examination) at AIIMS Delhi. Vikram said around 95,000 candidates have got their first or second preferred state and more than one lakh candidates are appearing for the exam this year. He said around 96,000 admit cards had been downloaded till Sunday.INI-CET is conducted twice a year in May and November for admission to postgraduate courses at AIIMS and other institutions of national importance across the country.