New Delhi: The National Testing Agency (NTA) has announced the results of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate), NEET-UG 2026 exam, bringing relief and excitement to lakhs of aspiring medical students across the country.
Declared on Thursday, the results have been published in time to ensure that the counselling and admission process for medical colleges remains on schedule.
This year’s examination witnessed an extraordinary scale, with nearly 20 lakh candidates appearing at 5,440 centres spread across 551 cities in India and 14 international locations.
Out of these, 11.21 lakh candidates have qualified for admission to undergraduate medical, dental, AYUSH and allied programmes.
The examination was conducted in 13 languages, reflecting the diversity of participation across the nation.
Women candidates have once again demonstrated remarkable performance, accounting for more than 58 per cent of the qualified pool.
Interestingly, women also recorded a higher qualification rate than men, with 56.8 per cent of those who appeared clearing the test compared to 55.1 per cent of men.
The majority of top performers are aged between 17 and 19 years, underlining the dominance of young aspirants in this competitive exam.
Among the top scorers, 138 candidates achieved above 690 marks out of 720, with 93 per cent of them appearing for NEET for the first time.
Nineteen candidates crossed the 700-mark threshold, while the highest score of 715 was jointly secured by Aryan Gupta from Punjab and Panshul Bansal from Haryana.
The distribution of top rankers spans 66 cities, with the top 17 candidates scoring above 705 marks representing eight states, including Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
he geographical spread of qualified candidates highlights the nationwide reach of NEET.
Uttar Pradesh led with more than 1.7 lakh qualifiers, while Lakshadweep recorded 43.
State toppers include Jigmet Yangchan Lamo from Ladakh with 530 marks, Dhruv Tripathi from Andaman and Nicobar Islands with 606 marks, and Fahmida Anees from Lakshadweep with 573 marks.
Seventeen state toppers scored 700 or above, while 26 achieved scores above 690.
Category-wise data shows that 5.12 lakh candidates qualified under Other Backward Classes – Non-Creamy Layer (OBC-NCL), 2.91 lakh under General, 1.59 lakh under SC, and 63,716 under ST quota.
The results also include detailed cut-off marks and topper lists across categories such as General-Economically Weaker Section, Persons with Benchmark Disabilities, Persons with Disabilities and Third Gender candidates.
The NTA has clarified that while it conducts the exam and declares results, counselling and admissions are managed by respective state authorities and designated bodies such as the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) and Ayush Admissions Central Counseling Committee (AACCC).
Candidates are advised to rely only on official websites, including NTA NEET portal, MCC portal and state counselling portals for authentic information.
The NTA has also cautioned against fraudulent calls or messages promising admissions or seat blocking, urging candidates to report suspicious activity to neetug2026@nta.ac.in or 011-40759000.
(IANS)
