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

NEET-UG Results Announced

New Delhi: Aryan Gupta from Punjab and Panshul Bansal from Haryana have emerged as the top scorers in the NEET-UG examination, with both achieving an impressive score of 715 out of 720. The National Testing Agency (NTA) revealed that a total of 11.21 lakh candidates successfully qualified this year.

Their scores surpassed the previous year's highest mark of 686, which was notably low due to a particularly challenging exam that year.

While 19 candidates managed to score 700 or more, 138 candidates achieved scores of 690. Interestingly, over 93% of those scoring above 690 were first-time NEET-UG participants.

In total, 1,492 candidates scored 650 or higher, and 10,160 candidates scored at least 600, according to the NTA.

Women made up more than 58% of the successful candidates.

The exam, originally conducted on May 9, was canceled on May 12 due to allegations of a paper leak, prompting an investigation by the CBI.

The re-examination took place on June 21.

Last year, results were released on June 25. To address concerns about potential delays in the admission process, the NTA assured that results were announced promptly, ensuring that the medical admission and counseling schedule remains intact.

The NTA explained that the timely results were achieved through a re-engineered process, allowing various stages to occur simultaneously and separating the OMR sheet challenge from the answer key release.

In 2024, 17 candidates initially achieved perfect scores of 720, but following a Supreme Court ruling on a disputed question, the number of top scorers was adjusted.

The number of qualifiers decreased from 12.36 lakh in 2025 to 11.21 lakh this year, coinciding with a drop in overall candidates from 22.09 lakh to nearly 20 lakh. Nevertheless, the qualification rate remained stable at around 56%, despite the re-test.

The NEET-UG is the largest undergraduate entrance examination in India, with approximately 25 lakh candidates participating annually.

The NTA organizes NEET each year for medical college admissions, 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 scores 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, Ladakh's Jigmet Yangchan Lamo scored 530, Andaman and Nicobar Islands' Dhruv Tripathi scored 606, and Lakshadweep's Fahmida Anees scored 573.

Each northeastern state was also 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.