CLAT 2026 Attendance Was 96.83% for UG: How Top NLU Closing Ranks Compare With 2025 and 2024
Published 18 Oct 20262 min read9 Views
The undergraduate (UG) attendance rate for CLAT 2026 was 96.83%. Of 75,009 registered UG candidates, 72,631 appeared for the exam. Across UG and PG, 88,657 of 92,344 registered candidates took the test. The first-round General category closing ranks at the top NLUs are lower than last year’s final-round ranks, but the two sets of figures cover different counselling rounds.
CLAT Attendance: 2026 vs Earlier Years
| Year | Registered (UG+PG) | Appeared (UG+PG) | UG attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| CLAT 2026 | 92,344 | 88,657 | 96.83% |
| CLAT 2025 | 78,914 | 75,361 | 96.39% |
- Registrations rose by about 17% between CLAT 2025 and CLAT 2026.
- UG attendance moved by less than half a percentage point, from 96.39% to 96.83%. Attendance stays in a narrow band every year, and the number of candidates is what grew.
Closing Ranks at Top NLUs (General Category)
A closing rank is the rank of the last candidate allotted a seat. A lower closing rank means the NLU filled its seats with better-ranked candidates, so competition was tougher.
| NLU | 2024 [VERIFY] | 2025 (final round) | 2026 (Round 1) |
|---|---|---|---|
| NLSIU Bengaluru | 102 | 112 | 101 |
| NALSAR Hyderabad | 155 | 159 | 148 |
| WBNUJS Kolkata | 279 | 327 | 284 [VERIFY] |
| NLU Jodhpur | 379 | 367 | 310 |
| GNLU Gandhinagar | 464 | 444 [VERIFY] | 376 [VERIFY] |
At all five NLUs, the 2026 first-round closing rank is lower than the 2025 final-round rank. Because the rounds differ, this does not show that cutoffs tightened.
Does Higher Attendance Mean Higher Cutoffs?
Not on its own. A higher attendance rate means fewer registered candidates skip the exam, so the real field is larger. But three points limit what the numbers show:
- Closing ranks loosen as counselling proceeds. Between Round 1 and Round 2 of CLAT 2026, NLSIU’s closing rank moved by 7 places and NALSAR’s by 13. NALSAR’s Round 2 rank of 161 was already above its 2025 final rank of 159.
- Attendance barely changed. It rose by 0.44 percentage points between 2025 and 2026.
- Several factors set the cutoff. These are exam difficulty, the number of applicants, seat availability, reservation policy, and domicile quota.
What This Means for CLAT 2027 Aspirants
CLAT 2027 is scheduled for Sunday, December 6, 2026. Registration runs from August 3 to October 31, 2026 [VERIFY on the official notification]. The Consortium has said the syllabus and exam pattern are unchanged.
Aspirants should compare the final-round ranks for their target NLU and programme before setting a rank goal. The Consortium publishes round-wise closing ranks on its website.
Official Website
CLAT notifications, counselling schedules, and cut-off data are published by the Consortium of NLUs at consortiumofnlus.ac.in.