NEET UG 2026 special stray round choice filling opens for 138 Maharashtra MBBS, BDS seats

The Maharashtra State Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell today, November 5, 2026, opened the choice filling window for the NEET UG 2026 special stray vacancy round for MBBS and BDS programmes. Candidates eligible for this round can submit their college and programme preferences through the official website, mahacet.org, until 12 noon on November 7, 2026.

This special round has been initiated to fill a total of 138 vacant MBBS and BDS seats remaining after the completion of the three centralised admission rounds and three online stray vacancy rounds for Maharashtra NEET UG 2026. The seat allotment results for this final round are scheduled to be declared on November 8, 2026.

Vacant Seats and Eligibility Criteria

A total of 138 seats are available in this special stray vacancy round, comprising 84 for MBBS courses and 54 for BDS programmes. These seats are distributed across government, municipal corporation, government-aided, private unaided, and minority medical colleges in Maharashtra.

For MBBS, 39 seats are available in private medical colleges, and an additional 45 seats are also in private medical colleges. In the BDS category, two seats are in government medical colleges, 22 in private medical colleges, and 30 in private medical universities. Candidates must have qualified NEET UG 2026, registered for the state admission process, and not have been allotted a seat in any previous admission round under Group A courses. Those who received medical seats through the All India Quota, including its special round, are not eligible to apply for this state-level special stray vacancy round.

The distribution of vacant seats for the Maharashtra NEET UG 2026 Special Stray Vacancy Round is detailed below:

Special Stray Round Schedule and Reporting

The choice filling window for the special stray vacancy round is active from November 5 to November 7, 2026, up to 12 noon. Following the declaration of seat allotment results on November 8, 2026, candidates who are allotted a seat must physically report to their respective colleges. This reporting requires original documents and a demand draft for the prescribed admission fee. The Maharashtra State CET Cell has indicated that the schedule for Maharashtra NEET UG 2026 Round 2 and 3 special stray vacancy rounds will be announced at a later date.

The key dates for the Maharashtra NEET UG 2026 Special Stray Vacancy Round are as follows:

Context of Previous Counselling Rounds

This special stray vacancy round follows the completion of three rounds of the centralised admission process and three online stray vacancy rounds for Maharashtra NEET UG 2026. A revised timetable for previous stray vacancy rounds was issued through Notice No. 28 dated October 21, 2026. This revision was necessitated by a delay in the publication of the final stray vacancy selection list for the All India Quota by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC), New Delhi, which impacted the state-level counselling timeline.

Under the revised schedule for earlier stray vacancy rounds, the physical joining deadline for Round 1 was extended to October 22, 2026, up to 5:30 PM. The last date to resign from a seat without penalty was also October 22, 2026, up to 5:30 PM. Choices submitted during Stray Vacancy Round 1 and 2 for earlier rounds became null and void for subsequent rounds.

The revised schedule for the previous Maharashtra NEET UG 2026 stray vacancy rounds included:

Further reading

• Maharashtra NEET UG 2026: 138 MBBS, BDS seats vacant; no institutional round admissions
• NMC to examine Andhra Pradesh request for MBBS admission deadline extension, NEET percentile reduction
• National Eligibility cum Entrance Test cutoff: previous closing ranks and marks Next step
• KEAM 2027: Apply online for engineering seats starting January
• CENTAC NEET MDS 2026 Round 3 registration deadline extended; apply under revised cut-off
• KEAM 2026: Apply for 84 MBBS, 106 BDS stray seats. CEE to announce dates Applications open

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.

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