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JEE Main 2026 Session 1: NTA to allot another exam date in West Bengal for Jan 23 test

Candidates from West Bengal who were scheduled to appear on January 23 will be given an alternative exam date. This, NTA says, is in view of Saraswati Puja.

2 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jan 16, 2026 11:32 AM IST

NTA will not allot January 23 to any candidates in West Bengal (representative image/ Express photo by Vishal Srivastava)

The National Testing Agency (NTA), which is set to start the Joint Entrance Examination Main (JEE Main) 2026 January session exam from January 21 to 30, will not allot January 23 to any candidates in West Bengal. Candidates from the state who were scheduled to appear on January 23 will be given an alternative exam date. This, NTA says, is in view of Saraswati Puja.

JEE Main 2026 January Exam Admit Card Live Updates

“In view of the representations received from candidates in the state of West Bengal regarding the celebration of Saraswati Puja on 23 rd January 2026, it has been decided that all candidates scheduled to appear for JEE (Main) in West Bengal on 23 rd January 2026 shall be allotted another date of examination among the advertised dates for JEE (Main) 2026 Session 1 examination,” the Agency in a social media post said.

The JEE Main paper 1 or the BE and BTech paper will be held on January 21, 22, 23, 24 and 28. The JEE Main paper 1 will be held in two shifts – one in the morning (9 am to 12 noon) and second in the afternoon (3 pm to 6 pm).

The JEE Main Paper 2 or the 2A BArch, Paper 2B BPlanning or Paper 2A and 2B both will all be held on January 30. The JEE Main paper 2 will be held only in one shift from 9 am to 12.30 pm.

NTA on January 8 released the city intimation slips for the JEE Main 2026 Session 1. Candidates will be able to check and download the JEE Main 2026 January session slips from the official website — jeemain.nta.nic.in. The JEE Main 2026 session 1 admit cards are expected to be released three to four days before the start of the exam on January 21.

Last year, in the JEE Main Session 1 exam, as many as 13,11,544 candidates registered and 12,58,136 appeared. In the Session 2 JEE Main April exam last year, 10,61,840 candidates registered and 9,92,350 appeared.

In 2025, JEE Main was held in January and April. The January session exam was held from January 22 to January 30 and the April session exam was conducted between April 2 to April 8.