NEW DELHI: CBSE on Monday defended the functioning of its post-result services portal, stating that more than 1.6 lakh candidates had submitted requests for verification and re-evaluation between June 2 and June 7 (the window for the purpose), even as several questions regarding the review process and the ongoing On-Screen Marking (OSM) controversy remain unanswered.In a statement posted on X, the board said the application window for verification and re-evaluation “remained fully functional throughout the notified period” under the supervision of govt technical agencies and IIT teams.“During the above application period, more than 1.6 lakh candidates successfully submitted requests pertaining to over 3.8 lakh answer books, reflecting the extensive utilisation of the services by candidates,” CBSE said. It added that the system remained under “continuous monitoring by cybersecurity teams” and the helpdesk and grievance redressal support were provided to students throughout the exercise.The clarification comes amid complaints from students regarding scanned answer sheets, portal access issues and alleged mismatches in answer-book copies released under the board’s new digital evaluation system.CBSE also sought to explain reports of candidates encountering the message “Roll Number Not Found” on the portal. According to it, the message appeared only when a candidate had not successfully applied during the first stage of the post-result process — obtaining scanned copies of answer books. “… only those candidates who had applied for their scanned answer books during the preceding stage (Answer Books Photocopy) were eligible to avail the subsequent stage of Verification of Issues Observed and Re-evaluation of Answers,” it said.However, CBSE did not address several key issues.Till the filing of this report, it had not disclosed how many of the 1.6 lakh candidates applied for verification of marks and how many sought re-evaluation of answers. It also did not clarify whether technical glitches, login failures, payment problems or portal access issues may have affected the number of applications received.Another unresolved issue concerns the apparent gap between figures released by CBSE at different stages. On May 26, the board had said more than four lakh applications were received for scanned answer books.Monday’s statement referred to requests concerning over 3.8 lakh answer books in the verification and re-evaluation phase. CBSE did not clarify whether all candidates who had sought scanned copies received them, or whether around 20,000 answer books did not proceed to the next stage.The board also did not provide data on how many students applied separately for verification and re-evaluation, how many cases have been processed so far, whether the exercise is being conducted through the OSM platform or manually, the current status of cyberattack attempts reported earlier, and whether verification and re-evaluation of disputed answer sheets has begun.