As the third round of National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test Undergraduate 2025 (NEET-UG 2025) counselling draws to a close, approximately 802 undergraduate medical (MBBS) seats across India have remained unoccupied, according to data compiled by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC).

Of these vacancies, roughly 389 MBBS seats belong to the All-India quota. About 334 seats in deemed universities and another 38 seats in central institutions also went unoccupied.

A senior MCC official stated, “These seats are in the seat matrix for the stray round and are likely to be filled since the penalty for not joining the allotted seat is higher.”

In states like Tamil Nadu, for instance, 136 seats (including 22 in government colleges and nine in the newly operational All India Institute of Medical Sciences Madurai) were left vacant after the third round of counselling, Sakshi reports.

Officials indicate that these remaining seats will now be offered in the upcoming NEET-UG 2025 stray vacancy round, where the penalty for not joining is higher, thus creating an incentive to fill them.

Experts observing the trends point to structural issues: steep fees (especially in private and deemed institutions), lack of transparency in seat allocation rules, and reluctance among some candidates to commit as potential factors behind the shortfall.