Chennai: The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER), Tamil Nadu, has issued a clarification outlining the counselling framework for NEET UG 2026 admissions, stating that the state's existing counselling policy for MBBS and BDS admissions will continue for the 2026-27 academic session, despite recent changes introduced by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Government of India.
The clarification comes after the MCC introduced several updates to its counselling scheme for All India Quota (AIQ) seats for 2026-27. These include categorising candidates into 'Freeze' (no upgradation) and 'Float' (willing to upgrade) options, enabling online document verification for Float candidates by allotted institutes without initial physical reporting, and implementing a digital seat surrender and resignation workflow through the MCC portal.
According to the notification, Tamil Nadu will continue with its centralised document verification system, under which candidates' uploaded certificates are scrutinised during the application stage, while original documents are physically verified only when candidates report to their allotted institutions for admission.
The Selection Committee also noted that the state has already adopted an online resignation system. As specified in the 2026-27 State Prospectus, all permitted seat resignations must be carried out exclusively through the official counselling portal, www.tnmedicalselection.org, while offline resignations remain prohibited.
The notification further stated that Tamil Nadu will continue to offer upgradation opportunities from Round 1 to Round 2 and from Round 2 to Round 3, with the applicable rules remaining those already published in the state prospectus.
The Selection Committee clarified that counselling and admissions for Government Quota, Management Quota, Minority and NRI seats in MBBS and BDS programmes will continue to be governed by the relevant Government Orders—G.O.(D) No. 667 and G.O.(D) No. 695—along with the provisions contained in the 2026-27 State Prospectus.
