Odisha's Soyeb Aftab and Delhi's Akanksha Singh scored 720 out of 720 marks in NEET 2020
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A large number of students have scored high marks in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2020 as the results were declared online by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on October 16. This has also led to a rise in the All India Rank (AIR) this year even though the qualifying percentage was 56.44 per cent which was 0.06 per cent lower than that of last year (56.50 per cent).

This year, the 50 toppers in India secured 99.99 per cent and above by scoring 705 marks and above out of 720 in the exam. Two students secured the perfect score 720/720, Soyeb Aftab from Odisha secured the AIR 1 while, Akanksha Singh of Delhi secured the second rank in the NEET UG 2020.

The NTA which conducted the entrance exam for admission to medical, dental and pharmacy undergraduate (UG) programmes stated that the results will be followed by the counselling process for allocation of seats. The NTA stated, "The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Government of India will conduct the Counselling for 15 per cent All India Quota Seats, Deemed Universities, Central Universities, Seats of ESIC and AFMC, BHU and AMU. Candidates may visit website www.mcc.nic.in for further information. Candidates will apply for 15 per cent All India Quota seats as per the directions of DGHS and Counselling will be stopped once the seats are exhausted."

The details and schedule of counselling will be available on the websites of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Medical Education Directorates of States.

In addition, for state quota and other seats, the NTA said, "Candidates may apply to their domicile states and merit list as per state rules and based on All India Rank will be prepared by concerned counselling authorities. The counselling for private medical colleges will also be conducted by the concerned state counselling authority."

Dr Sadhana Parashar, senior director, NEET (UG) said, "The counselling would be conducted by the respective counselling authorities subject to prevailing rules and norms for admission in medical colleges and dental colleges under their ambit. Candidates are advised to be in touch with the respective counselling authorities and Institutions concerned for further details."

This year, 13,66,945 candidates appeared for the NEET UG 2020 at 3,862 examination centres in India, of which 7,71,500 have qualified, an overall qualifying percentage of 56.44 per cent. In Maharashtra, of the 2,27,659 candidates who registered, 1,95,338 appeared for the exam, of whom 79,974 have qualified, making for a state qualifying percentage of 40.94.

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