CLAT 2026 Counselling Process Dos and Don'ts

For candidates who passed the CLAT 2026 exam and are now seeking admission to one of India's National Law Universities (NLUs) or participating private law schools, the counseling procedure is a crucial step. It is crucial to manage this stage with precision, promptness, and strategic preparation because it is where your exam success transforms into a real seat. The counseling procedure, which usually entails several processes like registration, choice filling, document verification, and seat allocation, is intended to provide seats to candidates based on their rank, preferences, and reservation requirements.

Even though the CLAT 2026 counselling process might seem simple, applicants frequently make preventable errors that could harm their prospects of being accepted into the NLU of their choice. Therefore, it is essential to comprehend the dos and don'ts in order to guarantee a successful and seamless counseling session. Timely registration, thoughtful selection, document preparation, comprehension of seat allocation regulations, and meeting deadlines are important factors. Avoiding problems like skipping deadlines, providing inaccurate information, freaking out over initial allotments, or disregarding counseling updates and reminders are equally crucial.

CLAT 2026 Counselling Dos and Don’ts

The CLAT 2026 counselling process is one of the most crucial procedures in the CLAT 2026 admission process. Now, let’s look at all the dos and don’ts regarding the CLAT 2026 counselling procedure.

Dos for CLAT 2026 Counselling Process

Candidates must ensure that they are aware of all the things mentioned in this “Dos” list for the CLAT 2026 counselling process to avoid any rejection or any other mishap during the entire counselling process.

• Candidates whose names have appeared in the merit list after the result declaration must be vigilant about the invite list for the counselling process. They must keep checking their SMS and registered email ID to know if they have received an invitation. Students can also check the status of the invite list by logging in to the official website through their registered credentials.
• Candidates must keep the scanned copy of the following documents ready to upload on the official website during the counselling registration process:

Documents Required for CLAT UG Counselling

1. Class 10th Mark Sheet
2. Class 12th Mark Sheet
3. CLAT 2026 Admit Card
4. Character Certificate/ Conduct Certificate
5. Transfer Certificate
6. Migration Certificate
7. If requested and granted under the Reserved Category, a caste certificate (SC, ST, OBC, etc.)
8. Domicile/ Residence Certificate, if applied for and allocated under the domicile/ resident category seats
9. PWD Certificate, if applied for and allocated under the PWD category
10. Any further supporting documentation to assert your seat in the category for which you have applied (eg, children of ex-military members or defence service personnel, EWS certification, etc.).

Documents Required for CLAT PG Counselling

1. Class 10th Mark Sheet
2. Class 12th Mark Sheet
3. CLAT 2026 Admit Card
4. 3-year or 5-year integrated LLB graduation mark sheet
5. Graduation Degree
6. Character Certificate/ Conduct Certificate
7. Transfer Certificate
8. Migration Certificate
9. A caste certificate, if requested and approved under the Reserved Category (SC, ST, OBC, etc.)
10. If requested and granted, a PWD certificate falls within that category
11. If requested and allocated under the Domicile/ Resident Category seats, the Domicile/ Residence certificate
12. Any further supporting documentation to assert your seat in the category for which you have applied (eg, children of ex-military members or defence service personnel, EWS certification, etc.).

• Candidates must, without fail, update their NLU preferences at the time of the CLAT 2026 counselling registration. They must provide at least five NLU preferences of their choice. Candidates are urged to carefully analyse all available options, their scores, and ranks while declaring their preferences. Updating preferences is possible up until the specified deadline.
• Candidates must be aware that only the NLUs for which they have expressed a preference will be taken into consideration. Even if there are openings in other NLUs, an applicant who has not selected that NLU in the preference list will not be given consideration for admission there. This is true even if the candidate otherwise qualifies based on the merit list.
• To complete the CLAT 2026 counselling registration procedure, candidates must pay their prescribed category-wise CLAT counselling fee (INR 30,000 for the general category and INR 20,000 for the SC/ ST/ OBC/ BC/ EWS/ PWD categories). If any candidate fails to pay the counselling fee then they will not be considered for the CLAT 2026 admission process and their candidature will stand cancelled.
• Candidates can pay the CLAT online counselling fee using their debit card/ credit card or net banking. They are urged to submit the counselling fee before the deadline. Requests for payments made after the closing date won't be taken into account under any circumstances.
• To minimise payment-related complications, candidates are urged not to wait until the last minute to make payments. Requests for payments to be made after the deadline because of failed transactions or other problems won't be taken into account.
• Candidates are urged to be watchful for the counselling invitation; they must keep checking their SMS notifications, emails on their registered email ID, and may also login to the official website to see whether they have received any invitation for the CLAT 2026 counselling process. Candidates who have not received an invite for the counselling procedure in the first round may be summoned during the following rounds, in case openings, if any, arise in that particular category.
• Candidates must know that after each round of counselling, a provisional seat allotment list is released and candidates whose names are present in the list will have 3 options mentioned below, so, they must act accordingly:

1. Accept the Allotted Seat: Candidates who accept the allotted seat must upload all proper documents to the Consortium website and pay the required course fee, minus the counselling fees, to the designated NLU. No further upgradation or revision will be entertained if there are vacancies in any of the candidate’s preferred NLUs.
2. Apply for Revise/ Upgrade: Candidates who select the Revise option must also pay the appropriate course fees to the designated NLU and upload documentation to the Consortium website. Only applicants who have taken admission, paid the required fee, and uploaded all required documentation will be given consideration for the Revise option. A candidate who has been assigned a seat but has not submitted the required documents or payment is ineligible for admission and the chance to revise. Candidates who select this option will have their seats locked in place and, in the event of a vacancy, will be given preference for placement in any of the desired NLUs over their current NLU.
3. Exit the Admission Process: Any candidate who picks this option forfeits their right to any CLAT consortium seat allocation. He or she will forfeit the seat that is now allotted to them and won't be taken into account for allocation in the lists that follow.

• Revise Option will be provided till the 4th round of the CLAT seat allotment process, so candidates who did not get their desired NLU till this stage will only have two options, i.e., to accept the allotted seat or exit the admission process. Candidates must know that no request for revision/ upgrade will be entertained in the fifth and final round of the CLAT seat allotment process.
• Candidates must note that they will incur a penalty of INR 5,000 from their submitted CLAT counselling fee if they exit the CLAT 2026 admissions after the fourth allotment list. So, they should try to make an upgrade decision by the third round of CLAT 2026 seat allotment to avoid incurring any penalties.
• Candidates must produce original documents during the CLAT 2026 counselling process. Those who are found ineligible for the admission process on the basis of their documents submitted will also incur a penalty of INR 5,000 from their submitted CLAT counselling fee.
• Candidates who have either accepted the allotted seat or opted for the revise option will have to pay the required course fees by visiting the official website of the allotted NLU along with the required documents submission within the stipulated time period. Any lapses in following the aforementioned will lead to the disqualification of the candidate from the CLAT 2026 admission process.
• The candidates are requested to frequently check the consortium website for any CLAT 2026 counselling related updates.
• The candidates should also check the websites of the member NLUs for information regarding the fee that must be paid for their application to be accepted after the counselling session.
• After the Consortium closes the fifth allotment list, the candidates are urged to check the individual NLU websites for any open positions. If there are any openings, individual NLUs must make admission decisions strictly based on CLAT 2026 merit list .

Also Read: CLAT 2026 Rank vs NLU: Detailed Analysis

Don’ts for the CLAT 2026 Counselling

Here are a few don’ts that candidates must know in order to avoid them for a successful CLAT counselling process.

• Candidates whose names are present in the CLAT 2026 merit list must not be carefree in checking the invitation for the CLAT counselling. They must regularly check their registered email ID and SMS to know whether they have received the counselling invitation or not.
• Candidates must not be unaware of the CLAT 2026 counselling registration process. It’s a no-brainer, if you are unaware of how to apply for the CLAT counselling registration then you may lose a chance to get admitted to an NLU of your choice and all of your hard work will go in vain.
• Candidates must not forget to pay the prescribed counselling fee at the time of the CLAT counselling registration to avoid cancelling their candidature for the CLAT 2026 admission process.
• Candidates must also not forget to assemble all the required documents that will be required to be uploaded and verified during the CLAT counselling process. Failure to do so will result in the disqualification of a candidate from the admission process.
• Candidates must also ensure to not provide any fake/ forged documents during the CLAT counselling verification otherwise they will lose their right and get rejected from the CLAT 2026 admission procedure.
• Candidates must not make the mistake of overlooking the CLAT Consortium’s official website to avoid missing out on any updates related to the CLAT 2026 counselling process.
• Candidates are strongly advised to not update their NLU preferences based on superficial knowledge during the CLAT counselling registration process. Any candidate who will make the mistake of choosing the 5 NLU preferences randomly or on the basis of insufficient information, will have no option to change their preferences later on when the CLAT counselling registration process is over. They will only get admission to any one of the five NLUs chosen by them. Candidates must not forget to check the following things while making their NLU preferences:

1. NLU’s ranking
2. Rank and marks obtained by the candidates in the CLAT 2026 exam
3. Previous year’s cutoff trends of the chosen NLU
4. Candidate’s personal preferences

• Candidates who will choose the upgrade/ revise option during the CLAT 2026 seat allotment must not forget to pay the prescribed course fees minus the counselling fee along with submission of the requisite documents within a stipulated time period by visiting the official website of that particular allotted NLU to be considered for the revise/ upgrade option along with avoiding getting rejected for the admission by the particular allotted NLU.
• Candidates must not forget to keep checking the allotted NLU’s website to know the course fee to be submitted and for any other CLAT 2026 admission related updates.
• Candidates must not forget to check the various NLU websites for any available opportunities once the Consortium closes the fifth allotment list. Individual NLUs must decide whether to admit candidates only on the basis of CLAT 2026 merit if there are any openings available.

CLAT 2026 Counselling Highlights

The CLAT 2026 counselling highlights section will provide you with an indispensable overview related to the CLAT counselling process like counselling mode, number of counselling rounds, counselling fees, and more.

CLAT 2026 Counselling Dates

CLAT counselling process is an important step towards the admission process. The table below shows the CLAT 2026 counselling dates:

CLAT 2026 Counselling Invitation

The Consortium creates the counselling invite list based on the CLAT 2026 results . There will be five times as many candidates on the invite list for each category as there are seats available. This indicates that approximately 15,000 candidates for CLAT UG counselling and approximately 3,500 candidates for CLAT LLM counselling may be invited. The shortlisted candidates receive the invitation to the counselling session via their registered email address and mobile number. Alternatively, applicants can access the CLAT 2026 portal to view their status.

CLAT 2026 Counselling Registration Process

The steps listed below have to be followed by candidates who are invited to the counselling and seat allocation process to register online:

Login using your registered account: First, candidates must login to their registered accounts by performing the following steps:

• Visit the CLAT 2026 official website at consortiumofnlus.ac.in.
• On the home page, type your mobile number and password in the appropriate fields.
• Click the Login link; you will be redirected to another page.
• On this page of the official website, you will find the link to register for the CLAT 2026 counselling.

Updating your NLU preferences: The next step is for candidates to update their top five NLU preferences based on their choices. 23 NLUs in India offer students five-year integrated LLB programmes based on their CLAT results. On the other hand, 20 NLUs in India offer LLM programmes based on students' CLAT PG results.

Candidates are recommended to revise their preferences only after learning enough about the NLUs, their programmes, costs, availability of seats, and other factors. It should be emphasised that after the counselling registration procedure is complete, applicants will only be considered for admission to the NLUs they have chosen. They will not be taken into account for admission to any other NLU.

Payment of CLAT 2026 Counselling Fee: To register for counselling through their login ID on the Consortium website, candidates must make an online payment to Consortium in the amount of INR 30,000 for general candidates and INR 20,000 for SC/ ST/ OBC/ BC/ EWS/ PWD (based on All India Category). The fee must be paid by the deadline and requests for payments made after the last date won't be considered under any circumstances.

The only acceptable method of payment is online. To minimise payment-related complications, candidates are urged not to wait until the last minute to make payments. Concerns with payments are not the Consortium's responsibility. You must wait till you see the notification "Payment Successful." Requests for payments to be made after the deadline because of failed transactions or other problems won't be taken into account.

Note: Candidates must note the following points mentioned below concerning the CLAT 2026 counselling procedure:

• Only those candidates will be taken into consideration for seat allocation who complete the counselling registration process.
• Candidates won't be considered for seat allocation if they don't finish or participate in the counselling registration process.
• A seat will not be guaranteed by simple registration for the counselling as five times more candidates than the intake will be invited and registered for the counselling process.
• If there are any openings in that particular category during subsequent rounds, candidates who were not invited to the counselling process in the initial round may be contacted.

We hope that you will keep in mind the above-mentioned dos and don’ts related to the CLAT 2026 counselling to ensure your CLAT counselling goes smoothly and sans any errors. Candidates are requested to bookmark this article so that they can revisit it whenever required. For more updates related to the CLAT 2026 counselling, stay tuned to CollegeDekho !