Bhubaneswar, July 17: The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Friday announced the results of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2026. Nearly 2 million candidates appeared for the examination, which was conducted at 5,440 centres across 551 cities in India and abroad. Of them, more than 1.121 million candidates have qualified.

Qualified candidates will now be eligible to participate in the admission process for MBBS, BDS and other undergraduate medical programmes offered by medical colleges across the country. Female candidates accounted for 58 percent of the successful applicants.

Odisha has nearly 3,000 medical seats, with the counselling process to be conducted by the Odisha Joint Entrance Examination (OJEE) authorities. Aman Kumar Nayak of Odisha secured AIR 80 with a percentile of 99.9959998, placing him among the 138 candidates nationwide who scored 690 marks or above.

Aryan Gupta of Punjab and Panshul Bansal of Haryana secured the top position jointly in the All India rankings. Odisha's Sattwik Pattnaik emerged as the state topper, securing All India Rank (AIR) 40 with a percentile score of 99.9978999.

Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of successful candidates, with more than 170,000 students qualifying, while Lakshadweep registered the lowest number of qualifiers at just 43.

According to NTA data, 138 candidates scored above 690 out of the maximum 720 marks. More than 93 percent of these top performers were first-time test takers, while 99 percent were between 17 and 19 years of age.

The examination was conducted in 13 languages, with candidates from all 36 states and Union Territories participating.

NEET-UG 2026 was initially held on May 3 but was cancelled following allegations of a question paper leak and other irregularities. The examination was reconducted on June 21. The NTA released candidates' answer sheets approximately one hour before officially declaring the results.