The Joint Admission Board (JAB) has firmly stated that there will be no relaxation of the 75% minimum marks requirement for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) through JEE (Advanced) 2026. This decision comes amid requests for a one-time relaxation due to delays in the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) re-evaluation process following the implementation of the On-Screen Marking (OSM) system. JAB, chaired by Kamal Kishore Pant, noted that the eligibility criteria cannot be altered since candidates from 36 different school boards are involved in the admission process. The board highlighted that many candidates lost seats last year due to not meeting the percentage requirement. A total of 56,880 candidates qualified for JEE (Advanced) 2026, representing a 4.6% increase from the previous year, with women making up a record 10,107 of those qualified. Candidates will compete for 18,951 B Tech seats across 23 IITs, with the counselling process conducted by the Joint Seat Allocation Authority (JoSAA) starting on June 2, 2026, and concluding with seat allocations by July 21.