The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has declared the final results of the Combined Defence Services Examination (I), 2026, recommending 243 candidates for admission to the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Indian Naval Academy (INA) and Air Force Academy (AFA). Lohitaksh Mahajan has secured the top position in the merit lists of all three academies.

According to the result announced on November 2, a total of 155 candidates have been recommended for the 162nd (DE) Course at IMA, Dehradun, 63 for the Indian Naval Academy at Ezhimala, Kerala, and 25 for the Pre-Flying Training Course at AFA, Hyderabad. Some candidates feature in more than one academy's merit list, NDTV reports.

Mahajan, bearing roll number 0500513, has secured the first rank across all three lists. He is followed by Lakshya Verma and Shubham Parmar in the IMA merit list; Naman Singh and Aayush Raghav in the INA list; and Aditya Sharma and Ashwani Pawar in the AFA list.

The final merit lists were prepared based on the written examination conducted by UPSC in April 2026 and the interviews held by the Services Selection Board (SSB) of the Ministry of Defence. The written examination was held on April 12 in three shifts, with papers in English, General Knowledge and Elementary Mathematics.

The Commission had earlier recommended 2,601 candidates for the IMA, 770 for the INA and 640 for the AFA after the written examination. The final recommendations were made following the SSB interviews conducted by Army Headquarters.

UPSC has clarified that the results of the medical examination have not been considered while preparing the final merit lists. The candidature of all recommended candidates remains provisional, pending verification of their date of birth and educational qualifications by Army Headquarters.

Candidates have been asked to submit their original certificates, along with attested photocopies, to Army Headquarters, Naval Headquarters or Air Headquarters, depending on their first preference. Those who have changed their address must also inform the respective headquarters.

The marks of candidates will be made available on the UPSC website only after the declaration of the final result for the Officers' Training Academy (OTA) course under CDS (I), 2026.

Candidates can check the roll number-wise merit lists on the official UPSC website, upsc.gov.in. They can also contact the UPSC Facilitation Counter on working days between 10 am and 5.30 pm or reach the Candidate's Helpdesk at 011-24041001 or 011-40303444 between 9 am and 8 pm.