According to recent government orders, the NEET UG 2024 counseling for undergraduate medical seats will start at the beginning of the third week of July, and the counseling will take place in four phases. According to reports, this year, around 23 lakh students appeared for the NEET-UG 2024 examination, which was conducted on 5th May 2024, and there are around 1,20,000 seats in undergraduate medical courses in private and government medical colleges.

As per the affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court, which is reviewing the multiple petitions also consisting of those who are requesting the cancellation of the NEET-UG because of the alleged paper leak, the government said that if it finds a student has been guilty of ‘misconduct’ at any time during the counseling and after, it will withdraw the candidature.

NEET-UG counseling allocates seats to qualified candidates based on their results of the exam. All India Quota (AIQ) seats are allocated through the Medical Counselling Committee, which conducts counseling on behalf of the Ministry of Health. The state quota seats of each state are managed by the counseling committees of the respective state. The candidates are supposed to list their medical college preferences, and the seats are allotted to them according to their preferences. In the affidavit, the government stated that the candidates could change their preferences of seats during the first and second rounds of counseling based on the options they choose. The affidavit also mentions that the third round of counseling may start in the second week of September. The government order also stated that if the selection of the candidate is canceled after the third round, the seats available will be allotted in the subsequent rounds. The candidates who secured seats in the previous rounds will not be considered eligible to participate in the other follow-up rounds.