KCET 2026 results out: State board students dominate top ranks, CBSE presence drops sharply

CET top rank holder in engineering Tanisha Karthik with parents – mother Aarthy Karthik, father Karthik R and sister- Harshitha Karthik

BENGALURU: In a reversal of last year’s performance, state board students swept most of the ranks in the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET), as against CBSE students. Of the top 10 ranks in engineering, only one CBSE student featured.The results were announced on Saturday by medical education minister Sharan Prakash Patil at Karnataka Examination Authority office in Malleswaram.The trend is in total contrast to that of last year. Last year, 45 students from CBSE featured in the top 100, of which seven were in the top 10. But, this year, only 19 are from CBSE, while 79 are from state board of Karnataka and one from state board of Telangana.Last year, CBSE students were dominating most of the top 10 ranks. This time, in veterinary sciences, yoga and naturopathy, and nursing, 8 among the top 10 were state board. In agriculture, all top 10 ranks were state board. In B Pharm and Pharm D, three were from CBSE.Experts point out the change to the low scoring among CBSE students amidst the valuation controversies. “In PU, several students have secured full marks in Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology. In CBSE, not so many would have achieved that mark. With these marks being considered for the calculation of CET ranks, it is not surprising that state board students had the edge over others,” said Sridhar G, founder, Deeksha Vedantu.The best marks from II PU-1 and II PU-2 were utilised. Meanwhile, in CBSE, even while revaluation marks are awaited, KEA said that it does not have the practice of considering the revaluated marks and hence will not be used this year too.Bengaluru continued to lead in all the toppers’ lists in the competitive exam. The top three in engineering were from the capital city. Rank 1 Tanisha Karthik and rank 3 Ninaad Vasisht are from RV PU college, Bengaluru, while rank 2 Srajan B S is from Deeksha-KMWA PU College, Bengaluru. In the top 10, six are from Bengaluru. In agriculture, 2 are from Bengaluru. In other streams, Bengaluru has around 4-5 toppers in the first 10.After the results were announced at 2 p.m., KEA website failed to load for some time as the traffic increased. KEA assured students that results would be sent to their WhatsApp numbers as well.Counselling is set to start from June 10, with option entry being allowed for four days. Seats will be allotted for admission to Medical, Dental and Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Unani courses based on the marks obtained in the UGNEET-2026 exam. After the NEET results are out and the MCC counselling schedule is followed, separate counselling will be held for admission to medical courses.“As NEET is getting delayed, we will go ahead with CET counselling first. However, the seats of other courses including engineering that fall vacant after the medical seat counselling will be allotted in the subsequent rounds. Eligible candidates will be allowed to enter options. We have already spoken to the private engineering colleges association, they have agreed to return the documents and fee paid without delay in such cases,” said minister Sharan Prakash Patil.While 3,30,646 candidates applied for the CET, 3,09,014 appeared for the examination. A total of 11,51,367 OMR sheets of all candidates (all four subjects) were uploaded to the KEA website in record time (5 days). The total eligible candidates are 292782.

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