NEET-UG: Over 2.7 lakh candidates skipped re-test, highest absentee count ever

Published 17 July 2026 · education

Over 2.7 lakh fewer candidates appeared for the medical entrance NEET-UG re-examination than the original test conducted on May 3, according to official data. The

Over 2.7 lakh fewer candidates appeared for the medical entrance NEET-UG re-examination than the original test conducted on May 3, according to official data. The crucial exam conducted on May 3 was cancelled by the NTA on May 12 amid allegations of paper leak. The CBI is investigating the matter. In Focus Podcast | Should the Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) be decentralised? The exam was re-conducted on June 21. For the re-examination, 19,99,895 candidates appeared compared to 22.05 lakh candidates who had taken the original NEET-UG examination. The result for the high-stakes exam was announced on Thursday (July 16, 2026), with the Testing Agency (NTA) announcing that 11.21 lakh candidates have qualified for the exam.

The result data shows that registrations remained almost unchanged from last year, but a significantly larger number of candidates skipped the re-examination. NEET-UG 2026 | A collection of explainers and expert opinions Over 22.79 lakh candidates registered for NEET-UG 2026, only marginally higher than 22.76 lakh registrations in 2025. However, only 19.99 lakh candidates appeared, leaving 2,79,848 candidates absent, the highest absentee count recorded so far. In 2020, 2.30 lakh candidates had skipped the exam when it was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The original examination held on May 3 had recorded an attendance of 22.05 lakh candidates, translating to an attendance of 96.72%.

The attendance for the re-examination stood at 87.72%, making it the second-lowest recorded since 2020. The Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate, or NEET-UG, is the largest undergraduate entrance exam in the country, with nearly 25 lakh candidates registering for the crucial test. The NTA conducts NEET every year for admission into medical colleges, with 1,08,000 seats available for the MBBS course. Of these, approximately 56,000 are in government hospitals and about 52,000 are in private colleges. Undergraduate courses in dentistry, Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha also utilise NEET results for admissions. Following the controversy over paper leak and alleged irregularities in the exam process, the Centre announced that the exam will now be conducted as a computer-based test (CBT), rather than in the pen and paper mode.

Detailed deliberations have been going on for several years between the education and health ministries on whether to conduct NEET-UG in pen-and-paper or online mode.