New Delhi: The National Testing Association (NTA) on Saturday released the schedule for NEET-UG 2026 for All India Quota (AIQ) and State Quota counselling.
According to the schedule released by the NTA, the first round of counselling for All India Quota/Deemed and Central Universities – involving 15% seats in MBBS, BDS and B.Sc. Nursing courses — will be held from August 4 to August 17. August 22 is the last date of joining and August 23 the verification date.
The first round of State Quota counselling will be held between August 13 and 22. The verification of joined candidates will be done on August 29, a day after the last date of joining.
The second round of counselling for AIQ will be held between August 24 and September 2, and the second round of State Quota counselling from August 31 to September 8.
After the third round and stray vacancy filling, the last date for joining for both AIQ and State counselling will be October 10, NTA said.
The academic session for UG courses will commence on September 8.
This year’s NEET-UG exam was held on May 3, only to be scrapped nine days later due to alleged irregularities like paper leak. The re-exam was held on June 21, with the result declared on July 16.
“For ensuring faithful obedience of time schedule and also keeping in view the limited time available for conducting counselling, all participating institutes/colleges are directed to treat all Saturdays/ Sundays and Gazetted Holidays as working days,” the NTA said in a circular.
“The data of joined candidates will be shared by DMEs/State Counselling Authorities to MCC for weeding out during seat processing of Round-3,” it said.
The counselling schedule for NEET UG 2026 has been released for All India Quota (AIQ) and State Quota counselling.#NEETUG2026 #NEETCounselling #MCC
👇👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/qg1tB64SaZ
— NTA NEET UPDATES (@nta_updates) August 1, 2026
In an unprecedented agitation led by the Cockroach Janta Party, students and youths participated in protests at Jantar Mantar, ultimately leading to the resignation of Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The government also sacked 47 NTA functionaries and announced its decision to initiate legal and criminal action.