Around 1.1 million out of nearly two million candidates qualified for nearly 137,000 MBBS seats and other undergraduate dental, AYUSH and allied programmes after clearing the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or NEET-UG examination 2026, according to results announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Thursday night.
Event Context
The highest score of 715 out of 720 was obtained jointly by Aryan Gupta of Punjab and Panshul Bansal of Haryana. Among the top 10 NEET-UG 2026 rank holders, Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar and Maharashtra each had two candidates, while Haryana and Uttar Pradesh had one each.
NTA has a history of announcing NEET-UG results late at night. In 2024, it declared the original NEET-UG results at around 10 pm on June 4, released the results of the re-test conducted for 1,563 candidates on the evening of June 30, and issued revised scorecards at around 8:30–9 pm on July 26 after the Supreme Court directed it to revise the results by withdrawing marks awarded for a disputed Physics question. This year, the agency announced the NEET-UG 2026 results at around 10:30 pm on July 16.
A total of 19 candidates scored above 700 and 1,492 candidates scored 650 and above. “A total of 10,160 candidates scored 600 and above and as many as 90,780 candidates scored 500 and above,” NTA said.
The provisional answer key for the examination was released on July 13, 2026 and the objection window was closed on July 15, 2026. The final answer key for the re-examination was released on Thursday night.
In the final answer sheet, NTA dropped one question, while another had two correct answers – both in Physics questions. “One of the disputed questions involved a Vernier calipers problem that asked candidates to determine the length of a wire based on the instrument’s reading. This question was dropped from the final answer key. The second question on electromagnetic waves had two correct options, instead of a single correct answer as originally indicated,” said Keshav Agarwal, vice-president of Delhi-based Coaching Federation of India (CFI) which has 1,000 coaching institutes as its members.
As a result, NTA awarded a total of four marks as bonus to all NEET-UG 2026 candidates, including those who have not attempted the question. It also awarded four marks to all candidates who have either marked any of the two correct answers for a question on electromagnetic waves.
It accepted multiple correct answers for two questions without dropping any question in 2025, and dropped one question while accepting multiple correct answers for two questions in 2024.
Match Outlook
Women outshone men, with 58% of the qualified candidates being female. The majority of the top-performing candidates were between 17 and 19. “Women also qualified at a higher rate than men: 56.8 per cent of women who appeared qualified, as against 55.1 per cent of men,” NTA said in a statement.
The results draw the curtains on a tumultuous examination season that saw the NEET-UG cancelled over a leak of multiple question papers, a nationwide uproar, and a re-examination held on June 21.
A total of 138 candidates scored above 690 marks out of 720. “Of the 138, a total of 99% are between 17 and 19 years of age and over 93% appeared for NEET (UG) for the first time,” NTA said, adding that results were declared in time so that the “medical-admission and counselling calendar for candidates stays on track.”
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The NTA will publishing the complete category-wise data on registered, appeared and qualified candidates for the General, General-EWS, OBC-NCL, SC, ST, PwBD, PwD and Third Gender categories, NEEDS EXPANSION along with separate topper lists for each category. According to the agency, 291,000 General, 512,000 OBC-NCL, 159,000 SC, 63,716 ST, 95,026 General-EWS, 3,666 PwBD and 303 PwD candidates qualified.
Nearly two million medical aspirants appeared for the re-examination on June 21 after the original test was held on May 3. NTA cancelled the exam on May 12 and announced the re-test on May 15 after receiving an email on May 8 alleging a leak and noting overlaps between a circulated guess paper and the May 3 question paper. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing the alleged leak, has arrested 13 people so far and will file its charge sheet this month.
