97.74% candidates qualify in WBJEE, student from Siliguri secures top rank

3 min readKolkataJun 19, 2026 05:39 AM IST

By Antoreep Das & Debadrita Basu

The West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board (WBJEEB) on Thursday announced the results of the WBJEE 2026 with an overall qualifying success rate of 97.74%.

Of the 1,20,856 candidates registered for the examination, 94,901 appeared, recording an attendance rate of 78.52 per cent. A total of 92,753 candidates qualified.

Sashwat Banerjee, a resident of Siliguri who studied at Nalanda Academy Senior Secondary School in Kota, Rajasthan, secured the top rank. The top 10 rank holders are Sashwat Banerjee, Sauridhya Mondal of South 24 Parganas, Umang Bhut of Raniganj, Rahul Konar of New Town, Sarbhan Bhattacharya of Bijpur, Arha Bhattacharya of Chandrakona, Srijan Sur of Howrah, Monish Senapati of West Midnapore, Sabyasachi Raskar of Sonarpur and Debjit Pal of Kolkata.

A notable feature of this year’s merit list is that only two of the top 10 candidates studied in schools affiliated to the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education, while the remaining eight are from CBSE or CISCE-affiliated institutions. Asked about the trend, WBJEEB Chairperson Sonali Chakraborty Banerjee said the matter fell within the domain of the school and higher education departments and declined further comment.

Male candidates accounted for 71 per cent (67,378) of those who appeared, while female candidates made up 29 per cent (27,581).

Two candidates from the third gender category also appeared for the examination. Among those who qualified, 66,383 were male, 26,368 were female and both third-gender candidates cleared the examination. A total of 66 classes qualified under the OBC category.

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Candidates from within West Bengal made up the majority of qualifiers at 79.42% (73,665), while 19,088 candidates (20.58%) were from outside the state.

The examination was conducted for a total of 200 marks, with Mathematics carrying the highest weightage of 100 marks, followed by Physics and Chemistry at 50 marks each.

Board officials clarified that the rank list does not guarantee admission to any particular institution. “We provide the rank, but allotment depends entirely on the counselling process and seat availability,” an official said.

Counselling is likely to begin by June 29, with the Board currently collecting seat matrices from engineering colleges and preparing the digital framework for admissions. The process will cover engineering, technology, architecture and pharmacy courses.

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Last year, around 40,000 seats were available across government, government-aided and private institutions participating in the admission process. The Board also implemented the state’s revised reservation policy while preparing the merit list. Reservation remains at 22% for Scheduled Castes, 6% for Scheduled Tribes, 7% for Other Backward Classes, 10% for Economically Weaker Sections, 4% for Persons with Disabilities and 10% under the Tuition Fee Waiver scheme.

Before releasing the results, the Board thanked the state government, the Higher Education Department, police authorities, district administrations and examination personnel for ensuring the smooth conduct of the examination. It also acknowledged the support extended by authorities in Assam and Tripura, where examination centres were set up for candidates.

(Antordeep Das and Debadrita Basu work as interns with The Indian Express, Kolkata)