NEET 2019: Two from K'taka among top 50 rank holders

Benagluru: Phaneendra D K of Hassan emerged as the state topper in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) 2019, the results of which were declared on Wednesday. He secured the 36th rank on an all-India basis by scoring 686 out of 720 marks.

Apart from him, another student from the state P. Mahesh Anand of Bengaluru has made it to the list of top 50 students. He bagged 43rd rank with 685 marks. Pragya Mitra, who bagged the 20th position among the top 20 female rank-holders, secured the 99th rank nationally.

Over one lakh students from the state had appeared for the NEET examinations held on May 5 and May 20. The May 20 exam was held for those candidates from Fani-affected Odisha and Karnataka who could not appear for the exams owing to train delay. NEET exam is a gateway for admission to undergraduate medical and dental admissions across the country

Meanwhile, the pass percantage in state has not changed much with 63.25% qualifying this time as compared to 63.51% in the previous year. Experts attributed the marginal dip in the pass percentage to the number of candidates who skipped the test.

Data available from the NTA shows that of the total registered candidates, 13,196 were absent from the state.

As many as 15,19,375 candidates had registered for NEET 2019, of which 14,10,755 appeared for the test. A total of 7,97,042 candidates qualified.

Among the states, Delhi topped the country with 74.92% candidates qualifying, followed by Haryana at 73.41% and Chandigarh at 73.2%.