New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday described as "a national shame" the computer failures that have marred the first online Common Admission Test (CAT) for entry into Indian business schools.

"We call ourselves an IT superpower but we could not hold a successful online test. This is a nationalshame," BJP leader Sushma Swaraj told reporters here.

According to Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal, at least 45,000 students had enrolled for the test in the last three days, of which 8,000 could not take the examination due to technical problems.

Sushma Swaraj said: "This is a tragedy for children."

With CAT going online this year, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) decided to hold the exam over a 10-day period instead of conducting it on a single day.

But for the last four days, thousands of IIM aspirants have failed to take the test as the server crashed in scores of centres across the country.

-- IANS