The CLAT 2026 Fourth Allotment List was released by the Consortium of National Law Universities on 9 May 2026 at 2:00 PM, and lakhs of aspirants are now staring at the most consequential 96 hours of their counselling journey. Your seat is locked, your name is on a list — but the decision you take before 14 May 2026, 2:00 PM will determine which NLU you spend the next five years in. This guide walks you through the fourth list mathematically and emotionally: how to read your allotment, when to Float, when to Freeze, when to Exit, and how to prepare for the Fifth and Final list on 15 May 2026. No noise — just the decision framework you need today.
What Changed on 9 May 2026: The Fourth List in Context
The fourth round of CLAT 2026 counselling is structurally different from the first three. Until the third list, candidates could freely Float upward, hoping for a better NLU as upper-ranked aspirants exited the system. The fourth round is the last list where Float remains active — after this, your only choices are Freeze or Exit. That single design rule changes everything about how you should think today.
Vacancies in the fourth round came from three sources: candidates who exited during the third round window, those who failed to pay the confirmation fee within the third-round deadline, and the small pool of seats released by candidates who took admission in non-NLU options and surrendered NLU seats. The result is a list that is thinner than the first three but disproportionately heavy in mid-tier and newer NLUs, because most top-six seats stabilised by Round 3.
If you have moved up even a single NLU in this round, congratulations — that movement reflects the genuine churn happening between Rounds 3 and 4. If your allotment is identical to Round 3, that is a strong statistical signal that further upward movement in Round 5 is unlikely unless a large block of exits occurs in the next five days. Read the list with that lens before you click anything.
Float vs Freeze vs Exit: The Three Buttons Explained
The Consortium portal will show you three buttons after your fourth allotment. Each one is a one-way door for a different reason, and confusing them is the single most common counselling mistake.
Freeze means you accept the currently allotted NLU as your final seat. You will not appear in the Fifth Allotment List. The seat is yours, you pay the balance university fee by 30 May 2026, 5:00 PM, and you start packing. Freeze is the right choice when (a) you are happy with the allotted NLU, (b) you have a low appetite for the risk of being downgraded or losing the seat, or (c) you are within your top-three NLU preferences and the marginal gain from floating is small.
Float means you accept the current allotted seat as a safety net but remain in contention for an upgrade to a higher-preference NLU in the Fifth Allotment List. Critically, Float does not mean you can refuse the upgrade if it happens — if Round 5 allots you a higher-preference NLU, that becomes your final seat automatically. You cannot revert. Float is the right choice only when there is a meaningfully better NLU still ranked above your current allotment in your locked preference list.
Exit means you withdraw entirely from CLAT counselling. Your current seat is released, you receive your counselling registration fee refund (if exercised before 14 May 2026, 2:00 PM), and you will not appear in any further allotment list. Exit is appropriate only for candidates with a confirmed admission elsewhere (AILET, SLAT, CUET-LLB, or repeat-year decisions) — never as a “let me think about it” option, because there is no path back.
The Mathematics of Floating in Round 5
The single biggest mistake fourth-round candidates make is over-estimating Round 5 upward movement. Historically, Round 5 churn is smaller than Round 4 churn by a factor of roughly 2x, because most candidates who were going to exit have already done so. The Fifth Allotment on 15 May 2026 will primarily redistribute seats released by fourth-round Exits and non-payments — a much smaller pool than the inter-round movement you have seen so far.
A practical heuristic: if the gap between your currently allotted NLU and your immediate higher preference is one or two NLUs, Float makes sense — that distance can plausibly close. If the gap is four NLUs or more, Float is statistically optimistic and you should Freeze. There is no shame in Freezing at NLU 4 or 5 on your list when the alternative is gambling on an NLU that has shown almost no Round 4 churn.
The other factor candidates ignore: category-specific churn. SC, ST, OBC, EWS, and PwD vacancies behave differently from General category vacancies, and a state-domicile reserved seat in a state NLU may show almost zero movement between Rounds 4 and 5. Read your category’s seat matrix before you assume upward mobility. Our CLAT mock test analytics already show how category cutoffs behave round-on-round — use that intuition here.
How to Read Your Fourth Allotment Letter: A Five-Point Checklist
Log in to your Consortium dashboard with your CLAT registration ID and password. Your fourth allotment letter will show six fields that matter:
- Allotted NLU and programme: Verify the NLU name and whether it is BA LLB (Hons.) or BBA LLB (Hons.) — they are not interchangeable.
- Allotment category: General, OBC-NCL, SC, ST, EWS, PwD, or state-domicile. The category determines your cutoff and your fee waiver eligibility at some NLUs.
- Confirmation fee: The non-refundable amount (₹30,000 for General/OBC, ₹20,000 for SC/ST/PwD) to be paid by 14 May 2026, 2:00 PM, to hold the seat.
- Locked preference rank of the allotted NLU: If your allotment is NLU #1 in your locked preference, your only sensible choice is Freeze — there is nothing higher to float to.
- Higher preferences still open: The portal lists which of your higher-ranked NLUs still have any vacancy. If zero higher preferences show vacancies, Float is mathematically pointless.
Do this verification before you touch any button. A surprising number of candidates click Float without realising every NLU above their allotment is already full — they have simply added five days of stress for no possible upgrade.
The 14 May Deadline and the Money Question
The confirmation fee window closes at 14 May 2026, 2:00 PM. Miss it and your fourth allotment lapses; the seat is offered to the next merit-ranked candidate, and you lose the right to participate in Round 5. There are no grace hours, no SMS reminders the portal will rescue you with, and no offline acceptance route. Treat 14 May, 2 PM, as a hard wall.
The confirmation fee for Float and Freeze is identical. The fee is adjusted against your final NLU’s first-year fee, so paying it is not “extra money” — it is a deposit that becomes part of what you would have paid anyway. The only candidates who genuinely lose money are those who pay the confirmation fee and then Exit later; that fee is forfeited to the Consortium.
If finances are tight, plan the balance university fee deadline too: 30 May 2026, 5:00 PM for the final allotted NLU. Most NLUs charge between ₹2.5 lakh and ₹3.2 lakh in first-year fees, with hostel charges adding ₹70,000 to ₹1.2 lakh more. Education loan sanctions take 7–14 working days at most public sector banks — if you Freeze on 14 May and your loan paperwork is not already in motion, start today.
The Fifth and Final List on 15 May 2026
If you Float in Round 4, your status will be recomputed on 15 May 2026 when the Fifth Allotment is published. Three things can happen: you get upgraded to a higher-preference NLU (this becomes final, no further choice); you remain at the same NLU you Floated from (this also becomes final, you cannot now exit without forfeiture); or, in rare cases involving category-specific vacancy reshuffling, you are downgraded — but only if you marked an explicit preference for that NLU lower in your list.
Round 5 has no Float option. Every candidate in this list must either Freeze or Exit. The Exit window in Round 5 is shorter and the refund mechanics are stricter, so the exit-as-insurance mindset does not work here. After Round 5, the Consortium centralised counselling ends. Any remaining vacancies are handled by individual NLUs through their own spot rounds — those are NLU-specific and do not use your CLAT counselling preferences.
If you are not allotted any seat in Round 5, your CLAT 2026 journey concludes without an NLU seat. Your options at that point are SLAT, the few private law schools with rolling admissions, a repeat year, or a non-law UG plan. None of these are catastrophic — but the time to research them is the next five days, not 16 May.
Decision Framework: A 60-Second Self-Audit
Print this checklist or screenshot it before you log in to the portal:
- Am I allotted my #1 preference? If yes → Freeze. The decision ends here.
- Am I allotted my #2 or #3 preference? If yes, and your #1 is in a different city/category with negligible Round 4 movement, Freeze. If #1 is geographically/financially viable and showed even moderate Round 4 churn, Float.
- Am I allotted my #4 to #8 preference? Float is the default — but only if at least one higher NLU shows vacancies in your category. If none do, Freeze.
- Am I allotted an NLU below my realistic ambition? Float, then prepare a parallel SLAT/CUET-LLB backup plan in case Round 5 does not improve your allotment.
- Do I have a confirmed non-NLU admission I genuinely prefer? Exit. Take the refund and move on without guilt.
You do not need to consult a coach for this decision. You need to consult your own locked preference list, your category’s vacancy pattern, and your honest tolerance for risk. Aspirants planning for CLAT 2027 can already start tracking how this churn played out — our CLAT 2027 coaching programmes use exactly this kind of round-by-round data for strategy mocks, and the official CLAT syllabus structure remains the foundation.
What This Means for CLAT 2027 Aspirants Watching
If you are a Class 11 or Class 12 student tracking this counselling cycle, the most valuable thing you can extract from May 2026 is not the cutoffs themselves but the shape of the cutoffs. Note how Round 4 vacancies clustered in certain NLUs versus others. Note which categories saw the steepest cutoff drop between Rounds 1 and 4. Note how state-domicile reservations behaved differently from open-category seats. This is the real intelligence that will inform your NLU preference order when your own counselling begins in January 2027.
The Consortium has also constituted an Expert Committee under Justice Indu Malhotra to review CLAT examinations and recommend medium- and long-term reforms for future cycles. Whatever that committee recommends will likely begin appearing in CLAT 2027 onwards — making 2027 a potentially transitional year. Prepare for the current pattern, but stay alert for an updated information bulletin in the second half of 2026. For ongoing CLAT 2027 prep, browse the CLAT Gurukul homepage for resources, mock series, and current affairs digests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. If I Float in Round 4 and Round 5 does not upgrade me, can I still Exit on 16 May?
No. By Floating in Round 4 you have committed to accept whatever Round 5 produces, including remaining at the same NLU. The Round 5 Exit option exists but it carries a steeper refund deduction and ends your counselling participation. Treat Float as a binding contingent commitment, not an exploratory click.
Q2. I missed the 14 May confirmation fee deadline. Is there any recourse?
The Consortium does not entertain late payments under any circumstances. Your fourth allotment lapses and you forfeit any further role in centralised counselling. The only remaining path is individual NLU spot rounds after 30 May, which are first-come first-served and do not consider your earlier CLAT rank.
Q3. Can I change my locked preference order between Round 4 and Round 5?
No. Your preference list was locked before Round 1 began and cannot be modified in any subsequent round. The Float button only operates against the preference order you locked at the start of counselling.
Q4. I am a state-domicile candidate for a state NLU. Should my Float strategy be different?
Yes. State-domicile seats typically show very limited vacancy movement between rounds because the eligible candidate pool is geographically restricted. If you are currently allotted a state-domicile seat at your home-state NLU, the case for Freezing is significantly stronger than for an open-category candidate at the same rank.
Q5. Will the confirmation fee be refunded if I Exit after Round 4?
The CLAT registration fee is refundable only if Exit is exercised before 14 May 2026, 2:00 PM. The confirmation fee paid against an allotted seat is non-refundable once paid, regardless of when you Exit afterwards. Read the refund schedule on the Consortium portal before clicking anything.
Quick Legal Reasoning Practice (5 MCQs)
Q1. Principle: A unilateral promise becomes a contract only when the offeree communicates acceptance. Facts: X publishes a notice offering ₹10,000 to anyone returning his lost dog. Y finds the dog and brings it home, intending to return it the next morning. Before Y can deliver, Z brings the dog to X first. Is Y entitled to the reward?
(a) Yes, because Y first decided to return the dog. (b) No, because Y did not communicate acceptance. (c) Yes, because finding the dog itself is acceptance. (d) No, because Y must claim the reward in writing.
Answer: (b)
Q2. Principle: A contract entered into by a minor is void ab initio. Facts: A, aged 17, purchases a motorcycle on instalment from B, makes one payment, then defaults. B sues to recover the bike. Outcome?
(a) A must return the bike and complete instalments. (b) The contract is void; B can recover the bike but not enforce the instalment terms. (c) The contract is voidable at A’s option only. (d) A is liable as A took possession voluntarily.
Answer: (b)
Q3. Principle: Negligence is the failure to take reasonable care which a prudent person would take in the circumstances. Facts: P, a doctor, prescribes a medication without checking the patient’s allergy history. The patient suffers anaphylaxis. Is P negligent?
(a) No, because doctors are protected by professional immunity. (b) Yes, because checking allergy history is part of reasonable care. (c) No, because the patient should have disclosed the allergy. (d) Yes, only if the patient dies.
Answer: (b)
Q4. Principle: Consent obtained by misrepresentation makes a contract voidable at the option of the party whose consent was so caused. Facts: S sells a watch to B claiming it is gold. It turns out to be gold-plated. B continues to wear the watch for six months before discovering the truth, then sues. Result?
(a) Contract is void. (b) Contract is voidable but B may have lost the right by ratification through continued use. (c) Contract is enforceable; B has no remedy. (d) B can claim damages but not rescind.
Answer: (b)
Q5. Principle: A person cannot transfer a better title than they themselves possess (nemo dat quod non habet). Facts: T steals a laptop and sells it to G, who buys it in good faith without notice. The original owner O discovers and demands return. G’s defence?
(a) G has good title because of good faith purchase. (b) G must return the laptop; good faith does not cure defective title in the seller. (c) G keeps the laptop because T received valid consideration. (d) O can recover only the purchase price G paid.
Answer: (b)
The Bottom Line
The fourth allotment list is not the end of your CLAT 2026 journey — it is the moment when the journey demands a clear-eyed decision. Floating without a mathematical reason, Freezing out of fatigue, or Exiting out of disappointment are all equally costly. Read your allotment letter twice, check the higher-preference vacancy data, audit your own risk tolerance, and click decisively before 14 May, 2 PM. The Fifth List on 15 May will close this counselling cycle either way — your job today is to make sure the closing position is one you can live with for five years.
