NEET SS counselling 2025: clear vacancy list out for special stray round, choice filling by September 29

The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), in conjunction with the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS), released the clear vacancy list for the DM, M.Ch, and DrDNB SS Special Stray Round of NEET SS Counselling 2025 on September 25, 2026. This round is being conducted to fill super speciality seats that remained vacant after Round 2 of counselling.

The decision to hold a Special Stray Vacancy Round follows a Supreme Court order, dated September 17, 2026, in W.P. (Civil) No. 771 of 2026, Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association & Anr Vs. Union of India & Ors, which reduced the qualifying percentile from 50th to 30th. Eligible candidates can now participate in choice filling and locking until September 29, 2026, via the official MCC website, mcc.nic.in.

Special Stray Vacancy Round Schedule and Eligibility

The Special Stray Vacancy Round is a non-upgradation round, meaning candidates who have already secured a seat in an earlier counselling round are not eligible to participate for a better seat or a different college. This round is specifically for candidates who did not secure any seat in previous counselling rounds or became eligible after the percentile reduction.

Online registration for this round commenced on September 25, 2026, with payment availability extending until September 28, 2026. The seat allotment processing is scheduled for September 29, 2026, with results declared on September 30, 2026. Candidates allotted seats must report to their respective colleges between October 1 and October 6, 2026.

Fees and Seat Matrix Updates

The registration fee for NEET SS counselling is ₹5,000, which is non-refundable. Also, a security deposit of ₹2,00,000 is required. This security deposit is refundable only if the candidate does not join the allotted seat or surrenders the seat within the stipulated time frame. The MCC released the updated vacancy seat matrix for NEET SS Counselling 2025 on September 25, 2026.

Any Tamil Nadu in-service seats that remain vacant after the state’s Stray Vacancy Round are expected to be returned on September 28, 2026. These returned seats will after that be added to the All India NEET SS Counselling 2025 seat matrix, increasing the total number of available seats for this special round.

NEET Ss 2025 Cutoff Scores

The NEET SS is an entrance examination for DNB and MCh/DM super speciality courses across India. The Medical Council of India (MCI) amended the “Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000” in 2019, streamlining the process. The NEET SS counselling process is conducted entirely online.

For the NEET SS 2025, various question paper groups had specific qualifying cutoff scores out of a total of 600 marks. For instance, the Critical Care Medicine Group had a cutoff of 285, while the Respiratory Medicine Group had the highest cutoff at 365.

Further reading

• NEET SS counselling 2025: TN DMER opens stray round registration for in-service candidates today
• NEET SS 2025 counselling: MCC clarifies eligibility for special stray vacancy round
• NEET SS cutoff: previous closing ranks and marks Next step
• INI CET July 2026 session online seat allocation schedule released
• Ladakh Central Pool MBBS/BDS: Apply by Sep 10 for 2026-27 single merit list Applications open
• NEET SS: complete exam guide

Written by Nishit Kumar

Nishit Kumar is a senior EdTech industry leader with over a decade of experience in building and scaling education platforms, shaping their product, content, and growth strategy. At FindMyCollege, Nishit oversees content and editorial strategy, guiding topic selection and content frameworks to ensure accuracy, relevance, and student-first value across the website.

View all posts →