The IIT Delhi zone emerged as the standout performer in JEE (Advanced) 2026, producing both the national topper and the highest-ranked female candidate as the results were announced on Monday.Shubham Kumar secured All India Rank (AIR) 1 with an impressive score of 330 out of 360 marks, one of the highest scores in recent years. In another notable achievement for the zone, Arohi Deshpande emerged as the top ranked female candidate, securing CRL 77.This year, 1,79,694 candidates appeared for both papers of the examination, of whom 56,880 qualified for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The results underline the intense competition for seats at the country’s premier engineering institutions, with fewer than one in three candidates making the cut.Among the successful candidates, 10,107 are women, reflecting their growing presence in India’s most competitive engineering entrance examination.The declaration of results ended weeks of anticipation for students and families across the country. While celebrations broke out among successful candidates, thousands will now turn their attention to the next crucial stage, the seat allocation process.With the rank list now out, the focus shifts to counselling and admissions, where top rankers will compete for coveted seats in sought-after branches such as Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Mathematics at the IITs.The strong showing by candidates from the IIT Delhi zone is expected to be one of the major talking points of this year’s results, with the region claiming both the overall topper and the highest ranked female candidate in the examination.