CLAT Answer Key 2026; Court Order, Merit List Revision

CLAT Answer Key 2026 released on December 10, 2025 turned into more than a routine provisional key this cycle, after the Allahabad High Court directed the Consortium of NLUs to revise the merit list, since one candidate's valid objection had not actually been reflected in the final key. Candidates who sat the CLAT exam on December 7, 2025 can download the key for their UG or PG paper, work out a probable score, and understand why this cycle's merit list is not quite as final as it first appeared.

CLAT Answer Key 2026 Highlights

CLAT UG and PG run as separate papers under the same exam name, each with its own answer key, though both were released on the same schedule this cycle by the Consortium of NLUs.

CLAT 2026: The Allahabad High Court Merit List Order

This cycle's answer key story did not end with the final key release on December 16. A legal challenge over how one candidate's objection was handled reopened the question of whether the merit list was actually correct.

• A candidate filed a petition stating that their objection against the provisional answer key had been found valid by the Expert Committee, yet the change was not reflected in the final answer key or the resulting merit list.
• The Allahabad High Court directed the Consortium of NLUs to revise the CLAT 2026 merit lists to account for this discrepancy.
• This is a genuinely unusual development for CLAT, since the final key is normally treated as closed once released, with no further changes expected.
• Candidates who narrowly missed a preferred NLU by a small margin should watch for any revised merit list rather than assuming the originally declared result is the last word.

CLAT 2026 UG Versus PG: Two Different Papers, Two Different Keys

A candidate checking the CLAT 2026 answer key needs to know which paper they actually attempted, since UG and PG candidates sit entirely different exams under one shared exam name.

Roughly 75,009 candidates registered for the UG paper against 17,335 for PG in this cycle, so the UG key is by far the more heavily searched of the two, though both follow the identical release and objection timeline set by the Consortium.

How to Download CLAT 2026 Answer Key and Response Sheet

Both documents sit behind the same login, so a candidate can pull up the key and their own response sheet in a single visit to the Consortium's portal.

• Visit consortiumofnlus.ac.in and open the CLAT 2026 Answer Key link.
• Log in with the registered mobile number and password.
• Select the correct programme, UG or PG, matching the exam actually attempted.
• View and download the answer key along with the response sheet.
• Compare each response against the key before deciding whether to raise an objection.

CLAT 2026 Objection Process and Fee

The objection fee for this cycle is refundable under a specific condition, which is worth knowing before assuming it works the same way as other exams covered on this page, since not every exam treats a rejected objection the same way.

• Log in to consortiumofnlus.ac.in with the registered mobile number and password.
• Select the question booklet set and the specific question being challenged.
• Choose whether the objection concerns the question itself or the answer given.
• Pay Rs 500 for that objection and submit through the official portal before the deadline.

CLAT 2026 Score Calculation

Since one question was officially withdrawn this cycle, the total a UG candidate is scored against is 119, not the full 120 questions on the original paper.

• Match each response against the final answer key for the correct programme.
• Add 1 mark for every correct answer.
• Subtract 0.25 marks for every incorrect answer, leaving unattempted questions at zero.

A candidate who gets 90 correct and 10 wrong out of the 119 scored questions ends up with 90 minus 2.5, for a net of 87.5 marks, before accounting for any further revision tied to the ongoing court order, since that revision could still adjust individual candidates' final standing.

Previous Year CLAT Answer Key Trend

Comparing this cycle's tight timeline against the general pattern shows CLAT usually moves from exam to result quickly, which makes this year's post result legal complication even more unusual.

A nine day turnaround from exam to declared result is fast compared with several other exams covered on this page, which is part of why the later court intervention stands out as a genuine departure from CLAT's usual pattern of a clean, quick close.

CLAT 2026 Important Points

A few extra facts are worth keeping in mind alongside everything already covered above, since they affect how a candidate should treat both the key and the eventual rank.

• The final answer key, not the provisional one, is what the result and All India Rank are calculated from, subject to the merit list revision the Allahabad High Court has ordered.
• One question was officially withdrawn from the CLAT 2026 UG exam, which is why the scored total is 119 rather than 120.
• CLAT is conducted in a single shift across all centres, avoiding the need for any shift-wise normalisation that multi-session exams require.
• There is no restriction on the number of attempts, so candidates can appear for CLAT again in a future year regardless of this cycle's outcome.
• Around 3,200 seats are available for CLAT UG across all 24 participating NLUs, though the exact number varies by category-wise distribution each year.
• CLAT scores are also accepted by several private universities and public sector organisations beyond the core NLU admissions process.

What Comes After CLAT 2026 Answer Key

Once the result and rank are out, qualifying candidates move into a centralised counselling process, though this cycle's exact rank list is genuinely subject to revision.

• Result and All India Rank were declared on December 16, 2025, the same day as the final answer key.
• Centralised counselling and seat allocation across 24 NLUs follows the declared rank, subject to whatever revised merit list eventually results from the court order.
• Document verification and fee payment are required to confirm admission once a seat is offered, and failure to comply can lead to seat cancellation.

CLAT 2026 has already moved through its full answer key cycle, but the Allahabad High Court's merit list order means this cycle is not quite finished the way a typical year would be. Candidates should keep an eye on official updates rather than treating the December 16 result as necessarily the final word on their rank, given how the situation has unfolded so far.

CLAT Answer Key 2026 FAQs

Ques: Why did a court get involved with the CLAT 2026 answer key?

Ques: Is the CLAT 2026 objection fee refunded automatically?

Ques: How many questions does the CLAT 2026 UG score actually cover?

Ques: Can I raise a CLAT 2026 objection by email if the portal is not working?

Ques: Is the CLAT 2026 result declared on December 16 final?