State board students dominate the list of top CET players
Sharanprakash R. Patil, Minister for Medical Education and Co-Chairman, Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), Khushbu Goyal, Secretary, Higher Education and H. Prasanna, Executive Director, KEA, during the Common Entrance Test 2026 (UGCET-26) at a press conference on Saturday at Karnataka (Karnataka) Press Conference at Bengal Examinations Authority | Photo credit: ALLEN EGENUSE J.
The results of the Karnataka Common Entrance Test (CET) – 2026, the gateway for admissions to professional courses including engineering, announced on Saturday, have students of the state’s pre-university colleges dominating the top ranks. Students from Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools had dominated the toppers for many years before.
Among the top 10 rank holders in all seven streams, most are from state colleges. In the engineering stream, 9 of the top 10 are from colleges affiliated to state boards, followed by 8 from BVSc. (Veterinary Science), 9 in B.Sc. (Agriculture), 8 each in Nursing and Yoga and Naturopathy and 7 each in B-Pharm and Pharma-D. Furthermore, among the 100 best experts in the field of engineering, 81 are from state universities.
This is in contrast to 2025 when seven of the top 10 rankers in the engineering stream were from CBSE schools. The trend across the other six streams was also similar last year. Experts have pointed to a significant drop in CBSE Class 12 results this year – from 88.39% last year to 83.29% – in line with the drop in the number of CBSE students topping the CET.
2.92 lakh students eligible
According to the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) list, a total of 2,92,782 students who cleared CET-2026 have become eligible for admission to various professional courses. Out of this, 2,82,603 are eligible for engineering stream, 2,09,220 students for B.Sc. (Agriculture).
Toppers
Tanisha Karthik of RV PU College Jayanagar, Bengaluru topped the engineering stream with 99.44% and Nayana Gopi of BASE PU College, Shivanagar, Bengaluru topped five streams including BVSc, Bc.-Nursing, Yoga & Natural Medicine, B-Pharm, Pharma-%D with B-Pharm. In B.Sc (Agriculture), Ninaad Vasisht of RV PU College topped with a score of 98.75%.
Counseling from June 10
When the results were published, the Minister of Medical Education, Dr. Sharan Prakash Patil said that CET-2026 counseling will start from June 10, 2026. “As decided earlier, we will not wait for NEET results. Due to re-examination, NEET is delayed this year. We will provide counseling for other professional courses before NEET counseling,” he announced.
“Seats for these professional courses that become available after medical counseling will be allotted in subsequent rounds. Eligible candidates will be allowed to enter options,” he added.
This time pre-round counseling is being introduced for the first time and candidates who like the allotted seat can join the college or attend the next first round.
As far as medical seats are concerned, if candidates who have been allotted both All India and KEA quota seats in the first round and want to take up All India quota seats, they need not pay penalty for giving up KEA seats, said Dr. He suffered.
Published – 06 Jun 2026 23:03 IST