Kartik tops in JEE-Main with 99.86 percentile in Amritsar

Kartik Kakadiya, a student of DAV International School, Amritsar, secured the top rank in the city in the first session of the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-Main) 2026, held between January 21 and 29.

Paper One (BE/BTech) was conducted over multiple days, while Paper Two (BArch/BPlanning) was held on January 29. The results of the session were declared on Tuesday evening.

Kartik secured the top position in Amritsar with a 99.86 percentile. Jafferjot Singh stood second with 99.83 percentile, followed closely by Divjot Singh with 99.77 percentile. All three students scored 220 out of 300 marks. However, there was little time to celebrate as their board examinations begin on Wednesday.

For Kartik, disciplined self-study and a strict no-social-media rule proved instrumental in cracking one of the country’s most competitive examinations for admission to the IITs and other premier engineering institutions. His mother, Smriti Kakadiya, is a teacher at DAV International School, while his father, Kamal Kumar Kakadiya, is a businessman.

A history enthusiast, Kartik also enjoys watching cricket. Despite his busy board exam schedule, he manages to follow Team India’s matches in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. He aspires to pursue a BSc in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and build a career in research.

Jafferjot Singh aims to pursue electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. A mathematics enthusiast, he also practices classical singing, which he says helps him stay focused and calm.

Divjot Singh, a student of Spring Dale School, plans to pursue a career in electrical engineering or computer science. His mother, Dr Amanpreet Kaur, is a professor at Shri Guru Ram Das Hospital, while his father, Dr Jagdeep Singh, is associated with Fortis Hospital.