JEE Main 2026 Participation Hits All-Time High; 16.04 Lakh Unique Registrations Recorded

A total of 15,38,468 unique candidates appeared for JEE Main 2026 across both sessions, the National Testing Agency confirmed on April 20, 2026, alongside the declaration of Session 2 results. Of the 11,10,904 candidates registered for Session 2 (April 2–8, 2026), 10,34,330 appeared — an attendance rate of 93.11%, the highest recorded across any recent JEE Main session.

Also Check:

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JEE Main 2026: Session-Wise Registered and Appeared Candidates

Source: NTA Official Press Release, April 20, 2026

The gap between Session 1 and Session 2 registrations — roughly 2.44 lakh fewer candidates in April — reflects the standard pattern of students who qualified in Session 1 choosing not to reattempt. Of the 8,61,343 candidates who registered for both sessions, 8,00,516 appeared in both, indicating a high commitment rate among repeat-attempt candidates.

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Session 2: Category and Gender-Wise Breakdown

Male candidates account for 68.1% of Session 2 registrations; female candidates account for 31.9%. The OBC-NCL category is the largest single category by registration (4,21,447), followed by General (3,97,000).

PwBD candidates: 3,900 registered; 3,645 appeared — an attendance rate of 93.46%, closely matching the overall session average.

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Session 2: Day-Wise Attendance

Attendance improved steadily across the nine shifts, from 91.49% on Day 1 Shift 1 to a session-high of 93.90% on April 8. The exam was conducted at 584 unique centres across 319 cities, including 15 cities outside India — among them Manama, Doha, Muscat, Riyadh, Singapore, Washington, Munich and Lagos.

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JEE Advanced 2026 Cutoff: Category-Wise Qualifying Percentile

The NTA has declared the category-wise cutoff percentile for JEE Advanced 2026 eligibility alongside the Session 2 results. A total of 2,50,182 candidates across all categories have qualified.

The General category cutoff of 93.41 percentile is the threshold that determines JEE Advanced eligibility for the open category. Candidates who scored at or above this percentile — considering the best of both sessions — are among the top 2.5 lakh qualifiers eligible to register for JEE Advanced 2026. 

Also Check: JEE Advanced 2026: Exam Date, Registration, Eligibility and Syllabus

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100 Percentilers and Toppers

A total of 26 candidates achieved a perfect NTA Score of 100 in JEE Main 2026 Paper 1 (B.E./B.Tech.). They are drawn from Andhra Pradesh (6), Telangana (6), Rajasthan (4), Delhi NCT (3), Haryana (2), Maharashtra (2), Bihar (1), Chandigarh (1), Gujarat (1) and Odisha (1).

Among female candidates, Mallavarapu Aasna of Telangana topped with an NTA Score of 99.9982287, followed by Ashi Grewal (Haryana, 99.9969766) and Saumyaa Gupta (Rajasthan, 99.9965185).

The exam was conducted in 13 languages — Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu — across 9 shifts in Session 2. NTA deployed 304 City Coordinators, 630 Observers and representatives from government cyber security agencies. A total of 57 candidates in Session 2 were found to have engaged in unfair means; their results have not been declared. Results of an additional 56 candidates have been withheld pending verification of documents and biometric details.

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What Happens Next: JEE Advanced 2026 Timeline

Candidates who have qualified for JEE Advanced 2026 must act within a narrow window. Registration opens April 23, 2026 and closes May 2, 2026. The fee payment deadline is May 4, 2026. The exam itself is on May 17, 2026 — Paper 1 from 9 am to 12 pm, Paper 2 from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm, both in CBT mode. Admit cards will be available from May 11, 2026.

For candidates who did not qualify for JEE Advanced, JoSAA counselling for NITs, IIITs and GFTIs is expected to begin in June 2026, based on the final All India Rank derived from the best percentile across both sessions.

The scale of JEE Main 2026 — over 15.38 lakh unique candidates appearing across two sessions, conducted across 319 cities and 15 countries — reflects the sustained and growing demand for engineering education in India. The 93.11% attendance rate in Session 2, the highest in recent memory, signals that candidate commitment to the exam remains exceptionally high even as the total pool of applicants has grown. For the 2,50,182 who have now qualified for JEE Advanced, the next 27 days are the ones that matter most.