Who Are the Top Scorers of NEET-UG 2026? Punjab and Haryana Shine Bright!

NEET-UG 2026 Results Announced

New Delhi: Aryan Gupta from Punjab and Panshul Bansal from Haryana emerged as the top scorers in the NEET-UG examination, with both achieving a remarkable score of 715 out of 720. This year, a total of 11.21 lakh candidates successfully qualified for the medical entrance exam, as reported by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Thursday.

Their scores surpassed the previous year's highest mark of 686, which was recorded when the exam was notably challenging, preventing any candidate from scoring above 700.

In total, 19 candidates achieved scores of 700 or more, while 138 candidates scored 690. Notably, over 93% of those who scored above 690 were first-time NEET-UG participants.

The NTA reported that 1,492 candidates scored 650 or higher, and 10,160 candidates achieved scores of 600 or more. Interestingly, more than 58% of the successful candidates were women.

The NEET-UG exam, initially conducted on May 9, was cancelled on May 12 due to allegations of a paper leak, prompting an investigation by the CBI. The re-examination took place on June 21.

Despite concerns regarding potential delays in the admission process, the NTA assured that results were released on schedule, allowing the medical admission and counseling timeline to remain intact.

The NTA explained that the timely results were achieved through a re-engineered process, where various stages were conducted simultaneously, and the OMR sheet challenge was separated from the answer key release.

In the previous year, 17 candidates had perfect scores of 720, but following a Supreme Court ruling on a disputed question, the number of top scorers was adjusted.

Although the number of qualifiers decreased from 12.36 lakh in 2025 to 11.21 lakh this year, the total number of candidates who appeared for the exam also fell from 22.09 lakh to nearly 20 lakh, keeping the overall qualification rate stable at around 56% despite the re-test.

NEET-UG is recognized as the largest undergraduate entrance examination in India, with approximately 25 lakh candidates participating annually. The NTA oversees this exam for admissions into medical colleges, offering a total of 1,08,000 MBBS seats, with around 56,000 in government institutions and about 52,000 in private colleges.

Additionally, NEET results are utilized for admissions into undergraduate programs in dentistry, Ayurveda, Unani, and Siddha.

In light of the recent controversies surrounding the exam process, the Centre has decided to transition NEET to a computer-based test (CBT) format, moving away from the traditional pen-and-paper method.

Discussions between the education and health ministries regarding the exam format have been ongoing for several years.

Uttar Pradesh once again produced the highest number of successful candidates, with over 1.7 lakh qualifying, while Lakshadweep had only 43.

In 2025, Uttar Pradesh led with more than 1.70 lakh qualifiers, followed by Maharashtra with 1.25 lakh and Rajasthan with over 1.19 lakh.

The top 17 candidates, all scoring above 705, hailed from eight different states: Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.

Seventeen state toppers achieved scores of 700 or more, while 26 candidates scored above 690.

Among the Union territories, the top scorers included Jigmet Yangchan Lamo from Ladakh with 530, Dhruv Tripathi from Andaman and Nicobar Islands with 606, and Fahmida Anees from Lakshadweep with 573.

Each northeastern state was represented in the list of state toppers.

In terms of social categories, 5.12 lakh OBC-NCL candidates qualified, followed by 2.91 lakh from the general category, 1.59 lakh SC candidates, 95,026 from Gen-EWS, and 63,716 from ST communities.

The successful candidates also included 3,666 individuals with benchmark disabilities (PwBD) and 303 candidates with disabilities.