CLAT PG 2026 Cut Off Marks [Official] Check Category-Wise Cut off Marks

Overview: If you're preparing for CLAT PG 2027, it's worth looking at the previous year CLAT PG cut-off to set a realistic target.  

• The CLAT PG 2026 admission cycle is complete. The exam was held on 7th December 2025; results were declared on 16 December 2025.  
• The Consortium of NLUs concluded five rounds of counselling between 7th January 2026 and 15th May 2026.  
• If you are targeting CLAT PG 2027: the exam will be held on Sunday, 6th December 2026, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Registration opens 3rd August 2026 and closes 31st October 2026 on consortiumofnlus.ac.in.  

Here, we tell you everything about the CLAT PG cut-off 2026 and other important, related aspects.  

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CLAT PG Cut-Off Marks 2026: NLU-Wise Closing Ranks  

The CLAT PG cut off is the closing All India Rank at which each National Law University stops allotting LLM seats in each counselling round. The Consortium of NLUs publishes ranks, not marks.   

Particulars	Details
Exam date	7th December 2025, 2:00-4:00 PM
Result declared	16th December 2025
Total marks	119 - 120 questions set; 1 withdrawn, 3 answers revised in the final key
Negative marking	0.25 per wrong answer
Highest score	104.25 (All India Rank 1)
Candidates appeared	~17,335
Attendance	96.01%
Approximate LLM seats	~1,590 across 26 participating NLUs
Seats per candidate	~1 seat per 10 candidates
Counselling rounds	5 - 7th January 2026 to 15th May 2026

For CLAT PG 2026, NLSIU Bengaluru closed the General All India quota at AIR 108 in Round 1 and NALSAR Hyderabad at AIR 143, out of roughly 17,335 candidates competing for about 1,590 LLM seats across 26 NLUs. That's approximately one seat for every ten candidates.  

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Category-wise CLAT PG Cut Off Marks 2026 (Round -1)  

The below table shows All India Ranks, shown as opening – closing.  

National Law University	General (AI)		OBC		SC		ST		EWS
	Open	Close	Open	Close	Open	Close	Open	Close	Open	Close
NLSIU Bengaluru	13	108	297	814	510	1459	298	1354	190	431
NALSAR Hyderabad	10	143	262	580	861	1003	--	-	217	404
RMLNLU Lucknow	27	178	342(UP)	751(UP)	304(UP)	2302(UP)	7180(UP)	-	496(UP)	827(UP)
NLIU Bhopal	161	295	878	-	1530	1749	1878	3185	-	-
GNLU Gandhinagar	303	387	955	1186	1110	2811	-	-	699	884
WBNUJS Kolkata	144	411	1490(WB)	8898(WB)	979	2291	1866	2761	-	-
NLU Jodhpur	181	454	567	1092	1864	2514	3638	4267	523	833
HNLU Raipur	468	719	1249	1813	2923	3853	4497	5589	-	-
RGNUL Patiala	43	791	-	-	950	3743	1847	5653	-	-
CNLU Patna	273	865	1319(BR)	1961(BR)	1280(BR)	6391(BR)	7594(BR)	-	1148(BR)	1842(BR)
GNLU Silvassa	599	918	1413	1816	3288	3576	5176	6240	1196	1374
NUALS Kochi	541	1131	-	-	2198(KL)	9278(KL)	-	-	-	-

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How CLAT PG 2026 cut-offs moved across the five rounds? 

Do CLAT PG cut offs drop in later rounds? At top NLUs, barely. Across the five CLAT PG 2026 rounds:  

• NLSIU Bengaluru made a single allotment in the whole of Round 5.  
• WBNUJS Kolkata moved only from AIR 411 in Round 1 to AIR 463 by Round 3.  
• NLU Jodhpur moved from AIR 454 to AIR 489, admitting one additional General-category candidate.  

Here are some observations as compared to CLAT PG 2025:  

• In 2025, a General rank near 1800 could reach HNLU Raipur or NLU Odisha. In 2026, those institutions closed near AIR 900-1000. 
• NUALS Kochi closed at AIR 1287 in Round 3, against AIR 2114 in 2025. 
• NLIU Bhopal's Round 3 OBC closing rank was AIR 950; its ST closing rank was AIR 5108. 

The widest access came from the newer NLUs:  

• NLUT Agartala recorded the lowest General closing rank of the final round at AIR 3063  
• DBRANLU Sonepat closed at AIR 2426 (General) and AIR 8663 (ST) in Round 3  
• IIULER Goa recorded 15 allotments in the final round  

What This Means If You're Preparing for CLAT PG 2027?  

• A General All India rank inside 500 is the practical threshold for a top five NLU, and it is effectively a Round 1 outcome. Those seats do not reopen.  
• AIR 500-1000 targets the established mid-tier.  
• AIR 1000-3100 remains viable at the newer NLUs and under state quota, but only for candidates who stay in the pool through all five rounds.  

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CLAT PG Cut Off Marks 2026 Vs Rank: How Are They Different?  

The Consortium of NLUs does not publish a cut-off in marks. It publishes a merit list and, after each counselling round, the opening and closing All India Rank at which each NLU stopped allotting seats. "CLAT PG cut off marks" is therefore always a derived figure: the score that corresponded to that closing rank.  

• CLAT PG 2026 was set as 120 questions with 0.25 negative marking per wrong answer.  
• One question was withdrawn and three answers were revised in the final key, so the Consortium computed results out of 119 marks.  
• The highest score in the exam was 104.25, which corresponded to All India Rank 1. This was based on the CLAT PG exam pattern and 0.25 negative marking rule.  

How many marks do you need for a top NLU?  

Because scoring compresses heavily at the top, small differences in marks move ranks sharply. For example:  

• NLSIU Bengaluru's General All India closing rank was AIR 108, roughly the top 0.6% of a 17,335-candidate field.  
• NALSAR Hyderabad closed at AIR 143 and RMLNLU Lucknow at AIR 178.  

CLAT PG Qualifying Cut-Off vs. Admission Cut-Off: What's the Difference?  

These are two different numbers and confusing them is the most common planning error we see. 

• Qualifying cut off is the minimum score needed to be eligible for CLAT PG counselling at all.  
• Admission cut off is the closing rank at which a specific NLU stopped allotting seats in a specific round.  

Clearing the qualifying threshold gets you into counselling. Only clearing an NLU's closing rank gets you a seat.  

Is there a minimum qualifying score for CLAT PG 2027? 

Yes. The Consortium requires a minimum positive net score. Because CLAT PG carries 0.25 negative marking on a 120-question paper, a candidate who guesses aggressively can finish with a negative total. And candidates with a negative net score are generally not eligible for counselling, regardless of category.  

There is no separately published percentage-based qualifying mark. Eligibility follows from your placement on the merit list.  

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Expected CLAT PG Cut Off Marks 2027: As Per NLU Tier  

We map the actual CLAT PG 2026 closing ranks from the Consortium's five allotment lists against verified score-and-rank pairs from our own counselling cell, then adjust for three things: the Consortium's confirmation that the 2027 exam pattern is unchanged, the five-year tightening trend at top NLUs, and expected seat additions from newly joined NLUs.  

These are estimates by LegalEdge After College. They are not Consortium of NLUs figures. The Consortium publishes only ranks, and only after each counselling round concludes.  

The baseline is reliable this year for a specific reason: CLAT PG 2027 will run on an unchanged syllabus and pattern, so 2026 outcomes carry forward more cleanly than in a year following a pattern revision.  

Tier 1  

(NLSIU Bengaluru, NALSAR Hyderabad, RMLNLU Lucknow, NLIU Bhopal, GNLU Gandhinagar, WBNUJS Kolkata, NLU Jodhpur)   

Category	Expected closing AIR (2027)	2026 actual reference	Confidence
General (AI)	Inside 500	108 - 454 (Round 1)	High
EWS	Inside 900	190 - 833	Medium
OBC-NCL	Inside 1,300	262 - 1,186	Medium
SC	Inside 2,900	510 -2,811	Medium
ST	Inside 4,500	298 - 4,267	Low

Tier 2  

(HNLU Raipur, RGNUL Patiala, CNLU Patna, GNLU Silvassa, NLU Odisha, NUSRL Ranchi, NUALS Kochi)  

Category	Expected closing AIR (2027)	2026 actual reference	Confidence
General (AI)	700 - 1,300	719 - 1,131 (Round 1)	High
EWS	1,200 - 2,000	1,148 - 1,842	Medium
OBC-NCL	1,300 - 2,200	1,249 - 1,961	Medium
SC	3,000 - 6,500	950 - 6,391	Medium
ST	4,500 - 7,600	1,847 - 7,594	Low

Tier 3  

(MNLU campuses, DSNLU, TNNLU streams, HPNLU, NLUJA Guwahati, MPDNLU, NLUT Agartala, DBRANLU Sonepat, IIULER Goa)  

Category	Expected closing AIR (2027)	2026 actual reference	Confidence
General (AI)	1,300 - 3,100	up to 3,063 (final round)	Medium
Reserved / state quota	3,000 - 13,600	up to 13,591 (MNLU Nagpur, ST-MH)	Low

Factors That Decide the CLAT PG Cut Off Marks & Ranks Every Year 

Four variables move the cut-off each year. The 2026 cycle gives us clear numbers for each.  

Seat-to-Candidate Ratio  

Roughly 17,335 candidates competed for about 1,590 LLM seats in 2026, one seat per ten candidates. When new NLUs join the Consortium, total seats rise and the lower end of the list loosens, while top NLU cut-offs are almost unaffected. This is why NLUT Agartala closed at AIR 3063 while NLSIU held at AIR 108. 

Paper Difficulty   

A harder paper compresses scores and pulls marks-based cut-offs down but has much less effect on rank-based cut-offs. In 2026, the topper managed 104.25 out of 119. No candidate cleared 105, which tells you the upper tail was genuinely constrained. Compare with the CLAT PG 2026 question paper to judge for yourself. 

Where the Strong Candidates Cluster   

Cut-offs at the top are set by a very small number of candidates. NLSIU's General list closed 95 ranks after it opened. A single strong cohort in one category can move a top NLU's closing rank by more than a change in overall difficulty. 

Withdrawal Behaviour Across Rounds  

This is the most under-appreciated factor. Top NLU cut-offs barely moved across five rounds in 2026, but mid-tier NLUs shifted by hundreds of ranks as higher-ranked candidates accepted seats elsewhere or left for other programmes. Cut-offs are not set on result day; they are set over four months.  

CLAT PG Cut-Off 2026: State Domicile Quota  

Home-state candidates face substantially lower cut-offs at NLUs with domicile reservation, often by thousands of ranks.  

In CLAT PG 2026, MNLU Nagpur's lowest recorded closing rank was AIR 13,591, for ST candidates under the Maharashtra state quota. At NLUs with no domicile quota, comparable reserved-category seats closed in the low thousands.  

Domicile reservation applies at NLUs including:  

State	NLUs with domicile quota
Maharashtra	MNLU Mumbai, MNLU Nagpur, MNLU Aurangabad
Uttar Pradesh	RMLNLU Lucknow
Kerala	NUALS Kochi
Tamil Nadu	TNNLU Tiruchirappalli (all LLM streams)
Bihar	CNLU Patna
Assam	NLUJA Guwahati
Tripura	NLUT Agartala
Gujarat	GNLU Gandhinagar, GNLU Silvassa
Andhra Pradesh	DSNLU Vishakhapatnam

If you hold eligible domicile, your effective CLAT PG cut-off is the state-quota rank, not the All-India rank. Build your preference order around that. Candidates routinely under-rank their home-state NLU because they compare themselves against the All India closing rank.  

Observations From the Year-wise CLAT PG Cut Off Trends  

The direction of CLAT PG cut-off has been consistent: top NLUs have tightened, and the mid-tier has tightened faster.  

NLSIU Bengaluru's General closing rank moved from:  

AIR 54 (2021) → 153 (2022) → 114 (2023) → 200 (2024) → 239 (2025) → 108 (2026, Round 1)  

The apparent widening through 2024-25 reflects the full five-round figure; the 2026 Round 1 number is the comparable early-round benchmark, and it is the tightest since 2021.  

The sharper change is below the top five. In 2021, AIR 1263 reached MPDNLU Jabalpur; by 2026, AIR 1000 was closing HNLU Raipur and NLU Odisha. More law graduates are choosing CLAT PG each year, and while newly joining NLUs add seats at the bottom of the list, they do not relieve pressure at the top.  

What to Do If You Miss the CLAT PG Cut Off?  

Missing an NLU's closing rank in Round 1 is not the end of the cycle. Three routes stay open:  

Stay in Through All Five Rounds:  

CLAT PG 2026 counselling ran from 7th January to 15th May 2026, and mid-tier NLUs moved substantially in Rounds 3-5 as higher-ranked candidates withdrew.  

NLUT Agartala's General seats closed at AIR 3063 only in the final round. Candidates who exited after Round 2 forfeited that movement entirely. This is the most common avoidable loss we see. 

Institutional Spot Rounds:  

Individual NLUs conduct spot admissions for seats left vacant after the Consortium's fifth round. These are announced on university websites, not the Consortium portal. Track your target NLUs directly.  

Parallel LLM Entrances:  

CLAT PG is not the only route into a strong LLM programme:  

• NLU Delhi does not participate in CLAT PG. It admits LLM candidates through AILET only. A CLAT PG rank, however high, does not make you eligible there. 
• CUET PG LLM admission covers BHU, DU and a wide set of central universities on a separate calendar.  
• State entrances like MH CET Law, AP/TS PGLCET, KLEE, cover strong state universities. 

If none of this help you land, CLAT PG 2027 on 6th December 2026 runs on an unchanged syllabus and pattern. A repeat attempt starts from your existing preparation, not from zero.  

Counselling Process After CLAT PG Cut-Off 2026  

CLAT PG 2026 counselling ran five rounds, from the first allotment list on 7th January 2026 to the fifth on 15th May 2026, followed by institutional spot rounds for unfilled seats.  

Candidates above the qualifying threshold registered on the Consortium portal, locked NLU preferences, paid the counselling fee, and confirmed each allotment within the round's deadline.  

Three things decided outcomes more than the cut-off itself.  

• Preference order, not preference count. Allotment runs strictly down your locked order. Every 2026 round showed top NLUs closing within Round 1 and barely moving afterwards, NLSIU allotted a single seat in the whole of Round 5. If a top NLU was not near the top of your list in Round 1, it was effectively unreachable for the rest of the cycle.  
• Staying in the pool. Mid and lower-tier NLUs opened substantially in Rounds 3-5. Withdrawing early forfeits that movement.  
• Document readiness. Verification failures cost seats outright, and eligibility is genuinely tested here. Check the CLAT PG eligibility criteria for LLM admission against your own documents before counselling opens. 

Carry the following documents at this stage:  

• CLAT PG counselling letter 
• LLB degree or provisional certificate, plus all semester mark sheets 
• Photo ID proof 
• CLAT PG admit card 
• Category certificate (OBC-NCL validity dated per Consortium rules) 
• EWS or PwD certificate, where claimed 
• Domicile certificate, for state-quota seats 
• Migration certificate 
• Character certificate  

Here are the key takeaways:  

• The cut-off is a rank, not a mark. The Consortium of NLUs publishes closing All India Ranks after each counselling round. It has never published a cut-off in marks and does not release a score-to-rank table.  
• Top NLUs closed inside AIR 500 for CLAT PG 2026. NLSIU Bengaluru at AIR 108, NALSAR Hyderabad at 143, RMLNLU Lucknow at 178, NLU Jodhpur at 454; all General All India, Round 1.  
• A top NLU is a Round 1 outcome or nothing. If a top NLU isn't near the top of your locked preference order, it won't reach you later.  
• Domicile quota is the single biggest lever on your effective cut-off. If you hold eligible domicile, plan around the state-quota rank, not the All-India rank.