UP Govt Notifies NEET UG 2026 Counselling Policy for MBBS/BDS Admissions

The Uttar Pradesh Medical Education Department has formally notified the admission policy for the 2026-27 academic session governing NEET UG 2026 counselling for MBBS and BDS courses across the state’s government, private, autonomous and minority medical and dental colleges. The order, issued by Deputy Secretary Harish Kumar on September 1, 2026, follows the department’s earlier communication dated July 22, 2026 and lays out the complete counselling, reservation, fee and document-verification framework for candidates applying through the State quota this year.

Governor’s approval has been granted for the policy to apply to 85% of State quota seats in government/autonomous medical colleges and institutions, and 100% of undergraduate seats in private (minority and non-minority) medical colleges, for admission through UP NEET UG 2026 counselling.

Registration and State Merit List

• Online registration, data capture, photo upload and payment of registration/security fees will be handled by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Yojana Bhawan, Lucknow, which has been designated as the technical agency for the exercise.
• The State Merit List will be prepared by the Director General of Medical Education & Training (DGME), UP, or a nominated officer, in coordination with NIC.
• The counselling brochure will be finalised by a committee at the Directorate level comprising representatives from King George’s Medical University (KGMU) Lucknow, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS) Lucknow, state government officials and DGME officers.

Eligibility Criteria

• Candidates must have appeared for and qualified NEET UG 2026.
• UP reserved-category candidates will be assessed against category-wise cut-offs notified by the NTA.
• Reserved-category candidates from other states must meet the unreserved (general) cut-off notified by NTA to be eligible for UP counselling – the reserved-category cut-off benefit will not apply to them.
• Domicile of UP is mandatory for admission to all government-sector medical/dental colleges, institutes and universities; candidates who cleared both High School and Intermediate (or equivalent) from UP are exempt from submitting a separate domicile certificate.
• Candidates who cleared only one, or neither, of these exams from UP but are UP domiciles must submit a domicile/residence certificate in the prescribed format from a competent UP authority.
• Domicile is not mandatory for admission to private-sector medical/dental colleges, universities and minority institutions – candidates who completed schooling from other Indian states may also participate.
• Candidates allotted a seat in the Stray Vacancy or Special Stray Vacancy round of UP NEET UG 2025 who did not take admission will not be eligible to participate in UP NEET UG 2026 counselling.

Registration Fees

• Registration for UP NEET UG 2026 counselling must be completed online via upneet.gov.in.
• A registration fee of ₹2,000 is payable for each of the First, Second and Third rounds as well as the Stray Vacancy round.
• Fresh registration is mandatory for participation in the Stray Vacancy round.
• The registration fee is strictly non-refundable.

Security Money (Refundable Deposit)

As in previous years, candidates must deposit security money online, as follows:

Category	Security Deposit
Government medical/dental colleges	₹30,000
Private medical colleges	₹2,00,000
Private dental colleges	₹1,00,000
Candidates opting for both government + private (medical & dental) seats	₹2,00,000
Candidates opting for both government + private dental seats only	₹1,00,000

Candidates who do not deposit the security money will not be eligible for choice-filling. If no seat is allotted after all rounds conclude, the security deposit will be refunded to the same account it was paid from.

Document Verification: 20 Nodal Centres Notified

Online verification of candidates’ documents (High School and Intermediate marksheets/certificates, category certificates for OBC/SC/ST/EWS/Ex-servicemen/NCC/Freedom Fighter/PwD, and domicile certificate where applicable) will be conducted through 20 designated nodal centres across the state, including:

1. King George’s Medical University, Lucknow
2. Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow
3. GSVM Medical College, Kanpur
4. SN Medical College, Agra
5. LLRM Medical College, Meerut
6. MLB Medical College, Jhansi
7. BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur
8. MLN Medical College, Prayagraj
9. UP University of Medical Sciences, Saifai, Etawah
10. Government Medical College, Azamgarh
11. Government Medical College, Ambedkarnagar
12. Government Medical College, Kannauj
13. Government Medical College, Jalaun
14. Government Medical College, Saharanpur
15. Government Medical College, Banda
16. State Institute of Medical Sciences, Greater Noida, Gautam Buddha Nagar
17. Government Medical College, Badaun
18. Autonomous State Medical College, Ayodhya
19. Autonomous State Medical College, Firozabad
20. Autonomous State Medical College, Shahjahanpur

Reservation Policy

Vertical Reservation (Government-sector State quota seats)

Category	Reservation
Scheduled Caste (SC)	21%
Scheduled Tribe (ST)	2%
Other Backward Classes (OBC)	27%
Economically Weaker Sections (EWS)	10%

EWS reservation applies as per UP Public Service (Reservation for EWS) Act, 2020, but only in institutions where the NMC has approved a seat increase for EWS reservation.

Special note – SCP colleges under litigation: Government Medical Colleges at Ambedkarnagar, Kannauj, Jalaun and Saharanpur, established under the Special Component Plan (SCP), continue to follow the previous seat distribution – SC: 62, ST: 5, OBC: 11, UR: 7 (Total: 85 State-quota seats per college) – pending the outcome of Special Appeal No. 295/2025 before the Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow Bench.

Horizontal Reservation

Category	Reservation
Dependents of Freedom Fighters	2%
Children of Ex-servicemen (war-disabled/killed-in-action/retired)	2%
Persons with Disabilities (PwD)	5%
NCC Cadets (minimum ‘C’ certificate with ‘B’ grading, or ‘B’ certificate)	1%
Women candidates	20%

Following the Allahabad High Court’s order dated May 26, 2026 (Writ Petition No. C-19125/2026, Saksham Shrivastava vs. State of UP & Others), the NCC horizontal reservation has been extended to cover candidates holding a ‘B’ certificate with ‘B’ grading as well, since requiring only a ‘C’ certificate at the undergraduate admission stage was found to render the reservation “illusory” – ‘C’ certificates typically being attainable only after graduation.

Horizontal reservation benefits will be available to a candidate within their own vertical category. Candidates who migrated to UP from other states/UTs will not be entitled to any reservation benefit, per the Allahabad High Court’s ruling in Special Appeal No. 689/2015.

Counselling Process: Four Online Rounds

Counselling will be conducted online across four rounds – First, Second, Third, and Stray Vacancy – per a schedule to be separately notified by DGME UP, aligned with the Medical Counselling Committee’s (MCC) national timetable.

• Round 1: Free exit facility available – candidates who don’t wish to join the allotted seat get a full refund of security money and fees (except admission fee for government colleges).
• Round 2: Candidates allotted a seat must take admission; failure results in forfeiture of the entire security deposit. Free exit is no longer available.
• Round 3: Similarly mandatory; non-joiners forfeit the security deposit and, for private colleges, 50% of the tuition fee deposited.
• Vacant reserved-category seats after Round 3 will be converted to higher/open categories per a defined Conversion Algorithm (e.g., ST-PwD/Ex/FF/NCC → ST; SC → UR; OBC → UR; EWS → UR; Minority → UR, etc.).
• Stray Vacancy Round: Open only to candidates who received no seat allotment in any of the first three rounds and did not participate in All-India or other states’ counselling. BDS-admitted candidates from earlier UP rounds may also apply via choice-filling for MBBS stray vacancy seats. Fresh registration and security deposit are mandatory.

Candidates who fail to join after a Stray Vacancy allotment will forfeit their security deposit and be debarred from UP NEET UG counselling for 2027-28.

Admission and Bond Requirements

• Government college admissions require personal presence at the allotted college along with prescribed fees.
• Private college admissions will be processed through designated nodal centres, in line with the Supreme Court’s order dated May 9, 2017 in Dar-us-Salam Educational Trust vs. Medical Council of India – tuition fees must be paid via Demand Draft in favour of the DGME, UP.
• Students admitted to government medical colleges will be required to execute a mandatory government service bond, per Government Order dated March 7, 2018 (as amended).
• Per Government Order dated June 26, 2024, candidates who vacate an allotted seat after the final counselling round but before completing the course will be debarred from the next academic session’s admission process.

Counselling Board Constituted

A Counselling Board has been formed for UP NEET UG 2026, chaired by the DGME, UP, and comprising a nominated Special/Joint Secretary from Medical Education, a principal/professor from a nominated medical college, three medical teachers, representatives of private medical/dental colleges and minority institutions, and a nominee from NIC Lucknow.

Administrative Cost Contribution

To meet publicity and administrative expenses for the online counselling process, private medical colleges will contribute ₹2,00,000 each and private dental colleges ₹1,00,000 each to the counselling fund, to be utilised under DGME approval from the CPMT (NEET) fund.