NEW DELHI: NEET-UG 2026 saw a sharp rise in top scores after the paper-leak controversy and nationwide retest, with Punjab’s Aryan Gupta topping the exam with a 715 score. Haryana’s Panshul Bansal who also scored 715 out of 720 is the second topper based on a tie-breaker rule. Their score was 29 marks higher than the 686 secured by the 2025 topper, when an unusually tough paper ensured that not a single candidate crossed 700.The results also threw up a strong first-attempt and gender story. More than 93% of the 138 candidates scoring above 690 were appearing for NEET for the first time, while 99% were aged 17 to 19. Women accounted for over 58% of the 11.2 lakh candidates who qualified and recorded a higher success rate — 57% of women who appeared cleared the test, compared with 55% of men.The National Testing Agency declared the results Thursday night after close to 20 lakh candidates took the June 21 re-examination at 5,440 centres in 551 Indian cities and 14 cities abroad. The original examination, held on May 3, was cancelled on May 12 following allegations that the question paper had been compromised. The CBI is investigating the leak.The rise in top scores was striking. Nineteen candidates scored above 700. A total of 1,492 candidates secured 650 or more, 10,160 crossed 600 and 90,780 scored at least 500. The 138 candidates scoring above 690 came from 66 cities.The number of qualifiers declined from 12.36 lakh in 2025 to 11.2 lakh this year, but the number appearing also fell from 22 lakh to close to 20 lakh. The overall qualification rate, therefore, remained broadly stable at around 56%, despite the cancellation and re-test. Uttar Pradesh again produced the largest pool of successful candidates, with more than 1.7 lakh qualifying, while Lakshadweep had 43. The top 17 candidates this year, all scoring above 705, came from eight states — Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. Seventeen state toppers scored 700 or more and 26 crossed 690. State and UT toppers included Ladakh’s Jigmet Yangchan Lamo with 530, Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ Dhruv Tripathi with 606 and Lakshadweep’s Fahmida Anees with 573. Every northeastern state was also represented in the state-topper list.Though NTA has not released a rural-urban or school-background classification, the presence of the 138 highest scorers across 66 cities, along with state toppers from remote UTs and every northeastern state, indicates a wide geographical spread beyond the largest metropolitan centres.Among social categories, 5.12 lakh OBC-NCL candidates qualified, followed by 2.91 lakh general-category candidates, 1.6 lakh SC candidates, 95,026 from Gen-EWS and 63,716 from ST communities. The successful pool also included 3,666 PwBD and 303 PwD candidates. NEET was conducted in 13 languages.NTA said the result was declared in time to keep medical counselling and admissions on track. Candidates will now enter counselling for MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and allied programmes. Following the paper-leak controversy, govt has decided to shift NEET-UG from the pen-and-paper format to a computer-based test from 2027.