The Re-NEET 2026, held on June 21, witnessed an unexpectedly lower attendance rate than the original test held in May this year. As per the official data
shared by the NTA, over 2.7 lakh fewer candidates turned up for India’s largest and highest-stakes medical entrance test. The retest was announced by the Ministry of Education (MoE) following a reported paper leak, which affected more than 22 lakh candidates. As of now, the CBI has arrested 13 accused in this regard. According to the National Testing Agency (NTA), as many as 19,99,895 candidates appeared for Re-NEET, compared to 22.05 lakh who sat for the original NEET-UG examination held on May 12, 2026. Following weeks of anticipation, the Re-NEET result was declared on Thursday (July 16), with 11.21 lakh candidates qualifying for admission to MBBS or BDS programmes.
Registrations Nearly Unchanged, Absenteeism Hits Record High
The result data demonstrate that although registrations remained almost unaltered from last year, a significantly larger number of candidates skipped the re-examination.
More than 22.79 lakh candidates signed up for NEET UG 2026, which depicts a slight increase from 2025's 22.76 lakh. However, only 19.99 lakh candidates appeared for the exam, while 2,79,848 remained absent, making it the highest absentee count recorded so far.
Back in 2020, around 2.30 lakh candidates had skipped the exam during COVID-19.
The original NEET examination, conducted on May 3, witnessed an attendance of 22.05 lakh candidates (96.72 per cent). The attendance of the retest, however, plummeted to 87. 72 per cent, making it the second-lowest recorded since 2020.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) is the largest undergraduate entrance examination in India, with approximately 25 lakh candidates applying for it. It is held annually to offer admission into medical colleges, with 1,08,000 seats available for the MBBS course. Of these, approximately 56,000 are in government colleges, and about 52,000 are in private colleges.
