Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Jul 12: In view of the delays in seat matrix approvals and ongoing technical issues with its counselling portal, the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) is planning to introduce a preliminary counselling round for undergraduate students who are certain about their course preferences.

According to KEA officials, this early round would target nearly 20 per cent of students who are confident in their career choices. These students would be allowed to participate in a dedicated round of counselling where only Choice 1 (immediate acceptance and joining) would be permitted. This move is expected to ease the load on the portal and fast-track admissions for committed candidates.

Seat matrices for courses such as engineering, veterinary sciences, agriculture, physiotherapy, and allied health sciences have already been released, and option entry is currently enabled for these streams. However, several other disciplines — including medical, dental, Ayurveda, homeopathy, Unani, BSc nursing, architecture, yoga, and naturopathy — are still awaiting departmental approvals, stalling the process for thousands of aspirants.

Meanwhile, the KEA portal has been experiencing repeated downtimes, with the option entry page frequently displaying maintenance messages. Students have been left frustrated as the resumption times were revised multiple times on Friday.

KEA Executive Director H Prasanna said the special round would streamline admissions for serious candidates and prevent repeated logins from overloading the server. He also urged students to prepare offline lists of their preferred college-course combinations along with corresponding codes before attempting online submission.

To compensate for technical hiccups, the KEA has extended the option entry deadline from July 15 to July 18. Students have been advised not to panic and to check the official KEA website regularly for further updates.

According to the revised schedule:

• Mock allotment results will be announced on July 21

• Final seat allotment results will be published on July 28

NEET-UG 2025: Mandatory Document Verification from July 17

For NEET-UG 2025 candidates who registered and paid the application fee after July 7, especially those claiming reservation under categories ‘A’ to ‘O’ and ‘Z’, the KEA has made physical document verification mandatory.

These candidates must appear in person at the KEA office in Bengaluru between July 17 and 19. This verification is essential for admission to courses in medical, dental, Ayurveda, homeopathy, and Unani streams.

Special category candidates, including the differently abled, have been asked to follow the detailed verification schedule published on the official KEA website. The list of required original documents was already shared during the UGCET process and must be carefully reviewed and brought for verification.

KEA has assured that candidates will receive timely alerts once the ‘option entry’ system is fully functional.