UPSC Prelims 2026 result declared
New Delhi: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on June 15 declared the results of the Civil Services Preliminary Examination (CSE) 2026, announcing that 13,343 candidates have qualified for the next stage of the country’s most competitive and prestigious recruitment process.
The preliminary examination, conducted on May 24, 2026, serves as the first gateway for recruitment into the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and several other Group A and Group B services under the Government of India.
According to an official statement issued by the Commission, 13,343 candidates have been shortlisted for the Civil Services (Main) Examination 2026 against a total of 1,016 vacancies notified this year. The number of qualified candidates is slightly lower than last year when 14,161 candidates were shortlisted for the Mains examination against 1,087 vacancies.
Click here to download the UPSC Prelims Result 2026
The announcement brings relief and excitement for thousands of aspirants across the country who have spent months, and in many cases years, preparing for one of the toughest examinations in the world. For many successful candidates, clearing the preliminary examination marks only the beginning of a much more demanding journey, with the descriptive Mains examination and personality test still ahead.
This year, approximately 8.19 lakh candidates had registered for the Civil Services Preliminary Examination. The examination was conducted at centres across India amid strict security and administrative arrangements. While only a fraction of those who registered eventually qualify for the Mains stage, the examination continues to attract some of the brightest young minds aspiring to serve the nation through the civil services.
The UPSC stated that all qualified candidates will now be required to complete a mandatory online process before being allowed to appear in the Civil Services (Main) Examination 2026. The Commission has opened a dedicated online window from June 19 to June 28, during which shortlisted candidates must log into the UPSC portal and update or reconfirm their details.
Candidates will also be required to submit the prescribed examination fee of Rs 200 for admission to the Mains examination. However, women candidates, Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD), Scheduled Castes (SC), and Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates remain exempt from the fee payment requirement as per existing rules.
Apart from fee submission, candidates must update or confirm several important details, including scribe requirements, assistive devices, large-font question paper requests, and cadre preferences for the Civil Services Examination. The UPSC has emphasized that completion of this process is mandatory, irrespective of whether a candidate has any changes to make in the submitted information.
The Commission cautioned that candidates who fail to log in and submit the required details within the stipulated period will not be issued e-admit cards for the Mains examination and will consequently be barred from participating in subsequent stages of the recruitment process.
“It is mandatory for all candidates qualified for the Civil Services (Main) Examination to log in during the prescribed window, verify their details and submit the application form,” the UPSC said in its notification.
The Commission also clarified that the marks obtained by candidates in the preliminary examination, along with category-wise cut-off marks and answer keys, will not be released immediately. As per UPSC practice, these details will only be published after the entire Civil Services Examination 2026 process, including the Indian Forest Service Examination, has been completed and the final results are declared.
The Civil Services Examination is conducted annually in three stages—Preliminary Examination, Main Examination, and Personality Test. The preliminary examination consists of objective-type papers designed to screen candidates for the Mains stage, while the Main Examination evaluates candidates through descriptive papers covering a broad range of subjects, including governance, ethics, economy, history, international relations, and essay writing.
