The grand finale of the Miss Universe India 2026 pageant was held on Sunday, August 23, 2026, in the ‘Pink City’ of Jaipur. Fifty-two beauties participated in this beauty contest. A special panel, featuring well-known faces from the entertainment industry, was constituted to evaluate the contestants. Bollywood actresses Sushmita Sen, Urvashi Rautela, and Celina Jaitly served as judges for the event. The top five finalists included Vaishnavi (Tamil Nadu), Anushree Satvalekar (Gujarat), Tejaswini Srivastava (Maharashtra), Kaijia Liz Majo (Kerala), and Anubha Vashishth (Uttarakhand). The winner was announced at 2:50 AM, with Kaijia Liz Majo from Kerala clinching the Miss Universe India 2026 title.
Winner of Miss Universe India 2026
In the final round of the pageant, contestants were required to deliver a 40-second closing remark before the judges, sharing their perspectives on life, challenges, and their thoughts on the future. Kaijia Liz Majo succeeded in impressing the panel with her closing remark and secured this year’s title. Manika Vishwakarma, the winner of Miss Universe India 2025, crowned Kaijia, who became visibly emotional during the moment.
Tough Competition from Tamil Nadu’s Vaishnavi
Kaijia faced stiff competition from Vaishnavi (Tamil Nadu), who made it to the top two alongside her and ultimately finished as the first runner-up. Meanwhile, Anushree Satvalekar (Gujarat) was named the second runner-up, Tejaswini Srivastava (Maharashtra) the third runner-up, and Anubha Vashishth (Uttarakhand) the fourth runner-up. It is worth noting that this year’s winner, Kerala’s Kaija Liz Majo, will now represent India at the 75th Miss Universe competition scheduled to be held in Puerto Rico later this year.
Actresses who served as judges alongside Sushmita
The judging panel for Miss Universe India 2026 included actress Sushmita Sen, alongside Celina Jaitly and Urvashi Rautela. Notably, Sushmita won the Miss Universe title in 1994. Meanwhile, Celina Jaitly won the Miss Universe India title in 2001 and finished as the fourth runner-up in the Miss Universe competition held that same year. As for Urvashi Rautela, she was crowned Miss Universe India in 2015. Film producer Pragya Kapoor also served as a judge on the panel.
