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    How Many Students Appeared for CLAT 2026 - Previous Trends, Success Rate, Comparison
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    • How Many Students Appeared for CLAT 2026 - Previous Trends, Success Rate, Comparison

    How Many Students Appeared for CLAT 2026 - Previous Trends, Success Rate, Comparison

    Shubham BhakuniUpdated on 08 Dec 2025, 10:32 AM IST

    CLAT 2026 has been conducted on December 07, 2025. Around 88,657 candidates (UG and PG) appeared in the entrance exam. The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is one of the most popular law entrance exams in India. According to the CLAT consortium, the attendance percentage for CLAT 2026 was 96.83% for undergraduate applicants and 92.45 % for PG candidates. Of these, the male–female ratio was approximately 0.72:1. CLAT is a gateway to 25 NLUs, GNLU off-campus in Silvassa and IIULER Goa. This makes CLAT one of the most preferred law entrance exams among LLB aspirants. RPNLU Prayagraj and IIULER Goa are the new universities that are part of the consortium from the academic year 2025-26 onwards.

    This Story also Contains

    1. How many students appeared in CLAT 2026?
    2. How Many Candidates Appear for CLAT Every Year - Last 5 Years Data
    3. CLAT in comparison to other major law entrance exams
    4. Seat intake of NLUs and low passing rate
    How Many Students Appeared for CLAT 2026 - Previous Trends, Success Rate, Comparison
    How Many Candidates Appear for CLAT Exam

    NLUs are spread across around 22 states and a union territory, Delhi, making it reasonable to have a Common Law Admission Test. Consolidating all NLUs (except NLU Delhi and NLU Meghalaya) into the CLAT Consortium also helped the law entrance exam become one of the most sought-after entrance exams for the study of law. As a result, over 60,000 candidates have appeared in CLAT every year since 2018. The CLAT registrations spiked to 75,183 in 2020, followed by a gradual decline. After touching a low of 54,253 in 2023, the registration improved again in 2024 and rose to 71,243 and then 78,914 in 2025 .

    How many students appeared in CLAT 2026?

    According to the consortium, 92,344 candidates registered for the 2026 CLAT. Out of these, 72,631 appeared in the UG, and 16,026 students took the PG entrance exam.

    Number of students who appeared for CLAT 2026 exam

    Registration

    (UG + PG)

    Appeared

    (UG + PG)

    CLAT UG

    CLAT PG


    Registered

    Appeared

    Registered

    Appeared

    92,344

    88,657

    75,009

    72,631

    17,335

    16,026

    In the CLAT 2025 exam, 78,914 candidates registered for CLAT of which 75,361 appeared in the exam. For the CLAT PG 2025 exam, 16,082 students registered, and out of these, 14,817 appeared for the exam. The course-wise data is given below.

    Number of students who appeared for CLAT 2025 exam

    Exam name
    Registered for CLAT 2025
    Appeared in CLAT 2025
    Absent
    CLAT UG62,83260,5442,288
    CLAT PG16,08214,8171,265
    Total78,91475,3613,553
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    How Many Candidates Appear for CLAT Every Year - Last 5-years data

    How Many Candidates Appear for CLAT Every Year - Last 5 Years Data

    Year

    Total registeredTotal appeared
    202578,914

    75,361

    2024

    71,243

    68,786

    2023

    54,253

    51,469

    2022

    60,895

    56,472

    2021

    70,277

    62,107

    2020

    75,183

    59,443

    *data covers both UG and PG CLAT exams

    CLAT in comparison to other major law entrance exams

    Apart from CLAT, there are several other law entrance exams in India at national, state and university levels. The most prominent among these are the All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) conducted by National Law University, Delhi, the Symbiosis Law Admission Test (SLAT) conducted by Symbiosis International University, and the Common University Entrance Test Law conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

    At the state level, Maharashtra Common Entrance Test — Law is one of the most popular law entrance exams. Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala also have state-level law entrance exams.

    However, in comparison to CLAT, the next biggest entrance exam, MH CET Law has around 25,000 candidates for 5-year LLB which is almost one-third of CLAT candidates. MH CET 3-year LLB which is a graduate-level entrance exam has over 60,000 candidates appearing every year.

    major law entrance exams

    Seat intake of NLUs and low passing rate

    The success rate in CLAT, like any other national entrance exam is very low. Only 4-6% of the candidates participating in CLAT make it to NLUs. Such a low success rate in CLAT is mainly linked to limited seats offered by NLUs and high competition among students.

    The remaining 95% of candidates either appear in other law entrance exams or use their CLAT scores for admission to CLAT-affiliated law schools.

    In the last 5 years, the number of national law universities (NLUs) has increased to 25. Accordingly, the overall seat intake has also improved in CLAT. Among NLUs, NLSIU is the only university that offers 300 seats in BA LLB. NLIU Bhopal, which offers BA LLB and BSc LLB has an intake of around 200+ seats. All remaining NLUs offer fewer than 200 seats.

    Overall, NLUs offer a combined intake of around 4000+ with various combinations of integrated LLB programmes. In comparison to other national-level entrance exams, the intake is low. IITs offer over 17,000 seats, whereas 21 IIMs have a combined intake of approximately 5,500 seats through the Common Admission Test (CAT).

    Affiliate Colleges: Where 95% of CLAT Candidates Can Apply

    60+ CLAT-affiliated law schools in India accept CLAT scores. Among the government colleges, the University of Delhi and IIM Rohtak are the most preferred law schools among students. Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and its affiliated law colleges also accept CLAT scores.

    However, a majority of law schools affiliated to the CLAT Consortium are private law schools. The prominent private law colleges accepting CLAT scores are Nirma University, Gujarat, UPES Dehradun, BITS Law School, Alliance University and SVKM'S NMIMS University

    You may also check -

    CLAT 2026 College Predictor
    Know your admission chances in National Law Universities based on your home state & exam result for All India Category & State Category seats.
    Try Now

    Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

    Q: How many candidates are appearing for CLAT 2026?
    A:

    Around 88,657 candidtes appeared for CLAT 2026.

    Q: When is CLAT 2026 exam date?
    A:

    CLAT 2026 has been conducted on December 7, 2025.

    Q: How many NLUs are accepting CLAT scores?
    A:

    25 NLUs, GNLU  off-campus in Silvassa and IIULER Goa accept CLAT scores. Apart from these, 60+ affiliated law schools accept CLAT scores.

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    Questions related to CLAT

    On Question asked by student community

    Have a question related to CLAT ?

    Hello Santosh,

    Domicile cut-offs are unpredictable. You can apply and get a seat only if the domicile category is selected. You can apply, but the chances of getting either of them are rare.

    CLAT is an entrance examination conducted for admissions into law colleges. The qualifying marks vary with the colleges. You should check the details on the website to get a clear idea regarding cut offs for the colleges. You will also get the exam pattern through the article shared.

    The exact number for students appeared for CLAT has not been revealed yet. About 88,657 students appeared Nationwide for CLAT examination.

    Hello, it is highly unlikely to get admission to the GGSIPU Main Campus or VIPS. However, you can target other colleges affiliated with GGSIPU through the counselling process.

    Hi,

    You can get the CLAT section-wise mock test, previous year question papers and comprehensive study material here .