The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has clarified that students applying for verification and re-evaluation of their answer sheets do not need bank accounts in specific banks to make payments on the portal.The clarification came after claims that payments could only be made through a limited number of banks, creating confusion among students and parents.In a post on X, CBSE said students can use any of the available payment gateways on the Verification and Re-evaluation portal without having an account in the listed banks.“Payment gateways of SBI, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda and Indian Bank are available on the Verification and Re-evaluation portal. Students need not have an account with these banks to complete payment,” the board said.CBSE explained that candidates can make payments through several online modes. These include UPI, net banking, credit cards and debit cards using the designated payment gateways available on the portal.The board said students are free to choose any of these options while completing their applications.The clarification came after Delhi Leader of Opposition Atishi alleged that students could make payments only through accounts held with State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda or Indian Bank.In a post on X, she criticised the Centre and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the issue and claimed the payment process was causing difficulties for students.“Another day… Another achievement by @dpradhanbjp… After late start to CBSE reevaluation portal, students now find that payment can ONLY be made via SBI, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda or Indian Bank. So if a student or their parents don’t have an account in these banks, they can’t apply for reevaluation! Mismanagement taken to new heights by the PM and his Cabinet,” she wrote.The controversy also drew reactions on social media, where one user asked Grok, the AI chatbot on X, to verify Atishi’s claims.The user wrote: “Fact check these claims. Looks like AAP is either discovering the concept of a payment gateway today or trying to mislead. Since when have payment gateways mandated the presence of an account in their affiliate banks?”In response, Grok said Atishi’s claims were “misleading”. According to the chatbot, the CBSE re-evaluation portal had earlier faced technical glitches and a reported cyberattack affecting its previous payment gateway arrangement. It said the Education Ministry and participating banks had introduced changes to improve stability and payment processing.The chatbot also described payment gateways as a standard online payment system that can process transactions from customers of different banks. It said the claim that students needed accounts in the listed banks to submit re-evaluation applications was incorrect.To reassure students, CBSE also shared data on the number of successful applications submitted through the portal.According to the board, nearly 40,000 students had completed the application process successfully by 9.30 am on Wednesday.CBSE is facing questions over alleged irregularities in the evaluation of Class 12 answer sheets and technical issues reported on its post-result services portal.