CLAT 2026 Counselling Ends With Massive Seat Rejections; 492 New Allotments in Final Round

CLAT 2026 Round 5 Allotments: Tier-1 NLUs

NLSIU Bengaluru and NLU Jodhpur’s BBA LLB programme announced no fresh allotments in the CLAT fifth round of counselling. NALSAR Hyderabad and GNLU Gandhinagar saw only one allotment each, while NLIU Bhopal and WBNUJS Kolkata recorded limited movement, largely in reserved categories and specialised programmes.

WBNUJS Kolkata’s BSc LLB programme saw five fresh allotments in the final round. Overall, the data suggest that cutoff movement at top NLUs had almost completely ceased before the final merit list was released.

CLAT 2026 Round 5 Allotments: Tier-2 NLUs

Several tier-2 NLUs continued to witness significant allotments in the final merit list, indicating that seat reshuffling remained active outside the top NLUs. NUSRL Ranchi recorded the highest movement among tier-2 institutions with 39 combined allotments across its BA LLB and BBA LLB programmes.

TNNLU Tiruchirappalli and DSNLU Visakhapatnam also recorded a notable drop in CLAT cutoffs, with the announcement of 28 and 12 fresh allotments in this round. In contrast, MNLU Mumbai again remained an exception among tier-2 NLUs, recording just two allotments in the final round.

Despite being a tier-2 NLU, MNLU Mumbai remains highly competitive due to its location and limited all-India seats, as nearly 73% seats are reserved for Maharashtra domicile candidates. Unlike MNLU Nagpur and MNLU Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, it continues to witness very limited seat movement even in later counselling rounds.

CLAT 2026 Round 5 Allotments: Tier-3 and Emerging NLUs

8 emerging NLUs, along with IIULER Goa, together announced 282 fresh allotments in the final round due to continued seat rejections and withdrawals after earlier counselling rounds. IIULER Goa alone recorded 97 combined allotments across BA LLB and BBA LLB programmes, continuing the trend seen in the fourth merit list as well.

Among NLUs, HPNLU Shimla recorded the highest movement with 55 combined allotments across both programmes. DNLU Jabalpur and NLUJA Assam followed with 30 and 29 allotments respectively, while RPNLU Prayagraj and the Maharashtra NLUs at Nagpur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar also witnessed considerable movement in the fifth round.

The continued reshuffling across these institutions suggests that many candidates treated lower-ranked NLUs as backup options while waiting for better opportunities either in established NLUs or in non-NLUs through CLAT and other law entrance exams.

CLAT 2026 Counselling Ends; Vacancy and Spot Admissions

With the release of the fifth merit list, the consortium’s centralised CLAT 2026 counselling process has officially concluded. Candidates allotted seats in the final round can now either freeze their allotted seat or exit the counselling process. The float option is no longer available.

Several students exercise the exit option after the final round of counselling, which will eventually lead to universities announcing spot admissions to fill the vacant seats in NLUs.

Previous years’ admission trends show that a significant number of seats remain vacant at emerging and lower-ranked NLUs after the completion of regular counselling.

Based on allotment trends and earlier admission cycles, institutions such as HPNLU Shimla, NLUJA Assam, DNLU Jabalpur, MNLU Nagpur, NLUT Agartala, GNLU Silvassa and RPNLU Prayagraj are likely to conduct spot admissions in the coming weeks. The admission cutoffs in these rounds drop significantly compared to regular CLAT counselling rounds.