CLAT 2025 Data Shows General Category Dominating at 62% Amid Persisting Inequities
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CLAT 2025 Data Shows General Category Dominating at 62% Amid Persisting Inequities

Shubham BhakuniUpdated on 07 Dec 2025, 03:53 PM IST

According to official data, a total of 62,832 candidates registered for UG-CLAT 2025. The registrations were highest in the last six years. Year-on-year, the registration improved by 18%. The general category participation was highest with 37,892 participants appearing in the exam, followed by 14,444 from the SC and 6,331 from the ST categories.

LiveCLAT 2026 Answer Key LIVE: UG, PG provisional key on December 10, paper analysis out, cut-offDec 7, 2025 | 11:02 PM IST

CLAT 2026 does not have a fixed passing marks criterion; admission to National Law Universities is based on the candidate’s rank in the merit list, which depends on their exam score, the number of applicants, seat availability, and category. The official cut-off marks and merit list will be released after evaluation, determining the scores required to secure admission.

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CLAT 2025 Data Shows General Category Dominating at 62% Amid Persisting Inequities
CLAT 2025 Data Shows General Category Dominating at 62% Amid Persisting Inequities

General Category Accounts for 62% with Lowest Success Rate

The category-wise breakup of student data shows that the general category remains the most competitive among all. General category candidates, including EWS, make up 62.60% — from roughly 30% of the total population.

In contrast;

  • SC students were 23.86%. Their population share is roughly 16%

  • ST participation in CLAT was close to 10.46%, largely consistent with their share in the population, 8.6% as per 2011 census data

  • The EWS category has no official survey data, but it is roughly around 18% according to NITI Aayog estimates. Against this, around 8.9% students participate in CLAT from this category.

CLAT 2025 and 2024 Registration Trends: Category-Wise Breakup

Category

2025

2024

Applied

Appeared

Applied

Appeared

General

39,285

37,892

32,904

31,870

SC

14,896

14,444

13,995

13,702

ST

6,676

6,331

6,257

6,037

OBC

1,975

1,859

1,644

1,571

Total

62,832

60,526

54,800

53,180


General - PwD

324

300

634

613

General-EWS

5,489

5,391

4,618

4,523

Source- RTI

Year on year, the general category saw the highest jump in registrations. The numbers rose by over 5,000 in a single year, indicating an increased level of competition in this category.

CLAT UG and PG: Historical Data

Year

Appeared

(UG + PG)

CLAT UG

CLAT PG

Appeared

Appeared

2025

75,361

60,544

14,817

2024

65,185

53,180

12,005

2023

51,469

42,766

8,703

2022

59,443

53,226

6,217

2021

62,106

53,532

8,574

Success Rate in CLAT

Overall, CLAT success rate ranges from 5-6% and it varies for each NLU, with four top-ranked universities recording less than 1% success rate for the general category. The success rate drops due to the NLU preference order submitted by students just before the counselling.

Big 4 NLUs: less than 1% success rate for general category

NLU Name

Closing Rank

Success Rate (in %)

NLSIU Bengaluru

112

0.30

NALSAR Hyderabad

159

0.42

WBNUJS Kolkata( BA LLB)

327

0.86

NLU Jodhpur

367

0.97

These top 4 NLUs are followed by tier 2 universities. These include GNLU Gandhinagar, NLIU Bhopal, RMLNLU Lucknow, HNLU Raipur, NLU Odisha, RGNLU Patiala, NLU Kochi and CNLU Patna.

Looking ahead: 2026 CLAT expected to continue this trend

The exorbitant amount of the CLAT application fee, with an English-heavy question paper, is seen by the students as prohibitive, discouraging lower-income groups from participating in CLAT. The NLU's fee structure has also remained at par with most of the private law schools, making affordability an important factor in choosing law schools.

As there have been no attempts in CLAT 2026 to improve student participation in different categories, the current trend is expected to continue.

CLAT 2026 is set to reveal its own participation insights once the consortium releases the data. Based on current trends, another uptick in registrations is likely, driven by:

  • Increasing competition in the general category

  • Saturation in engineering/medical career options

  • Acceptance of law as a mainstream career and increasing opportunities in the private sector

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Questions related to CLAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CLAT ?

Good Morning, Candidate,

It entirely depends on the university whether the admission for the BA LLB will be based on the 12th board or the national-level entrance exam, or both. The admission exams are below

1. Common Law Admission Test

2. All India Law Entrance Test

3. Symbiosis Law Admission Test

4. Common University Entrance Test

Thank you. Hope this information helps you.

Hello

The best way to cover the important current affairs is to read the newspaper daily. Then try to analyse the newspaper and remember the trending topics. Practice the previous year's question paper and understand the pattern of the question. Summarise all current affairs topics and understand them in brief. If you want more information about current affairs, then you will read the article How to Prepare for CLAT Current Affairs 2026 .

Thank you.

Hello,

Yes, you can prepare CLAT (Common Law Admission Test) in Hindi Medium and access syllabus in Hindi from mentioned link below:

https://law.careers360.com/hi/articles/clat-syllabus

Hope it helps.

Hello there!

Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) is a national level entrance exam for the programs related to engineering. It has two levels known as JEE mains (first level) and JEE advance (second level) . Many colleges from all over India in both government and private sector consider its scores. It is an online computer based test conducted by NTA ( National Testing Agency). Physics , Chemistry and mathematics are the major subjects to be focused in this exam.

Here is the link attached from the official website of Careers360 which will provide you with complete information about JEE.

https://engineering.careers360.com/exams/jee-main

NEET ( National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) is a national level examination for admission in undergraduate medical courses. It is also conducted by NTA but in offline mode as in pen and paper test. It includes courses like MBBS, BDS BHMS , BAMS etc. The exam consists of 180 questions in total 45 from each physics , chemistry , zoology and Botany. The total marks for the exam are 720 marks.

Here is the link attached from the official website of Careers360 which will provide you with complete information about NEET examination:

https://medicine.careers360.com/articles/neet-full-form

CLAT (Common Law Admission Test) is a national level entrance examination for the admission in national law colleges of India. The test is taken after 12th grade examination for the 5 years integrated programs in law. It tests students knowledge in legal aptitude. It also serves as a basis for public sector undertakings for legal positions.

Here is the link attached from the official website of Careers360 which will provide you with the complete information about the CLAT examination.

https://law.careers360.com/articles/what-is-clat-full-form-all-about-nlus-entrance-exam

thank you! Hope it helps!


Hello,

The CLAT PG exam pattern consists of 120 questions and 2-hour MCQ exam with negative marking.

Subjects Covered:

  1. Constitutional Law

  2. Jurisprudence

  3. Criminal Law

  4. Contract Law

  5. Other core law subjects

Here are some tricks which you must follow:

  1. Practice Previous Year Papers & Mock Tests
  2. Focus on Constitutional Law & Jurisprudence
  3. Time Management in Exam
  4. Revision Strategy

To know more access below mentioned link:

https://law.careers360.com/articles/how-to-prepare-for-clat-pg-exam

Hope it helps.