The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) is running an important Super Speciality counselling activity today, 29 September 2026, under the name “NEET SS Counselling 2025”. Please note this clearly: the counselling cycle is labelled 2025, but the current Special Stray Vacancy Round is happening now, in September 2026. Today’s deadlines are time-sensitive.
As per MCC’s official Special Stray schedule, Choice Filling and Choice Locking both close at 12:00 noon (server time) today, 29 September 2026. MCC will also carry out seat allotment processing on 29 September 2026.
1,814 vacant DM/M.Ch/DNB SS seats in the official vacancy matrix
This round is being held to fill seats that stayed vacant after Round 2. MCC’s officially published Special Stray “Clear Vacancy” Seat Matrix shows a total of 1,814 vacant Super Speciality seats across D.M., M.Ch and DrDNB (DNB) SS courses. The matrix is institute-wise and branch-wise, with entries across several speciality groups such as Anaesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine, Medical and Surgical groups, Paediatrics and other Super Speciality branches.
The total of 1,814 appears in MCC’s official vacancy document, so reporting “1,814 vacant seats” is directly supported by the official record.
Why MCC lowered the qualifying percentile to 30th
MCC’s latest notice dated 28 September 2026 says the Special Stray Vacancy Round is being held in line with the Supreme Court order dated 17 September 2026. After this order, the qualifying threshold was revised from the 50th percentile to the 30th percentile.
This matters because more candidates can now apply: candidates who were not eligible earlier may become eligible now under the revised 30th percentile criterion. MCC also points out that percentile should not be confused with percentage marks. It shows your relative performance among candidates.
Special Stray is a “Non-Upgradation Round”
MCC has clearly described this Special Stray Vacancy Round as a Non-Upgradation Round. In simple words, it is meant for filling vacant seats, not as a routine “upgrade” round. Read MCC’s conditions carefully and proceed according to your own counselling status.
Who can participate (as per MCC’s 28 Sept notice)
MCC’s updated notice clarifies that the following candidates can take part in this Special Stray Vacancy Round (subject to MCC rules and process):
- Candidates who were not allotted any seat in Round 1 or Round 2.
- Newly eligible candidates after the qualifying percentile was reduced to the 30th percentile.
- Candidates who were allotted a seat in Round 1 or Round 2 but did not join. MCC says they can participate, but they must do fresh registration and pay the applicable fees again, as per MCC conditions.
What happens next: result on Sept 30, reporting from Oct 1
After today’s processing (29 September 2026), MCC’s schedule lists:
- Special Stray Result: 30 September 2026 (no fixed release time is mentioned in the official schedule)
- Reporting: 1 October to 6 October 2026