NEET SS 2025: Special Stray Vacancy Round Seat Matrix Released

The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has officially released the seat matrix for the Special Stray Vacancy Round of the NEET Super Speciality (SS) counselling for the 2025 academic session. This final round of the admission process follows a significant revision to the eligibility criteria, which saw the qualifying percentile reduced from the original 50th percentile to the 30th percentile, in accordance with a Supreme Court order dated September 17, 2026.

The newly published 68-page document provides a comprehensive breakdown of the remaining vacancies across Doctorate of Medicine (DM), Master of Chirurgiae (MCh), and DNB Super Speciality (DNB SS) programmes. The matrix includes detailed information regarding the specific course, stream, state, participating institute, quota, branch, and category, allowing candidates to review the available options before proceeding with their choice filling.

Eligibility and Participation Guidelines for the Special Stray Round

The MCC has clarified the participation rules for this non-upgradation round. Candidates who were not allotted a seat in the previous first or second rounds of counselling are eligible to participate. Additionally, those who became eligible following the recent reduction in the qualifying percentile are also permitted to take part in the process. The round is also open to candidates who were allotted seats in earlier rounds but failed to join; however, these individuals are required to complete a fresh registration and pay the applicable fees, as their previous exit resulted in the forfeiture of their earlier seat.

The seat matrix covers a wide array of super speciality groups, including Medical, Surgical, Anaesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine, and Paediatrics, across various government, private, and deemed institutions nationwide. The MCC has noted that the current list may be subject to further updates. Specifically, in-service vacant seats from Tamil Nadu are expected to be reverted to the All India counselling authority by the state counselling body. Once these seats are officially received, they will be integrated into the existing matrix. Consequently, the MCC has advised all participating candidates to verify the latest version of the seat matrix on the official website before locking their final choices.

To access the document, candidates should navigate to the Super Speciality Counselling section on the official MCC portal and select the link for the Special Stray Vacancy Round seat matrix. The PDF file can then be downloaded to review institute-wise and speciality-wise vacancies. As this is a non-upgradation round, the committee has urged applicants to exercise caution and diligence when selecting their preferences based on the currently available seat distribution.