15,423 engineering seats vacant after JoSAA as CSAB opens fresh admission window for JEE aspirants

Students who missed out on securing an engineering seat through JoSAA counselling now have another opportunity. The Central Seat Allocation Board (CSAB) has started its special counselling round after thousands of seats remained vacant across centrally funded technical institutes following the completion of JoSAA 2026.

A total of 15,423 seats across 119 institutes are available in this round. The vacancies include seats in 31 National Institutes of Technology (NITs), 27 Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs), IIEST Shibpur and 60 Government-Funded Technical Institutes (GFTIs).

Admissions through CSAB Special Counselling will be based on candidates’ JEE Main 2026 All India Rank (AIR).

GFTIs account for the highest vacancies

Government-Funded Technical Institutes have the largest share of vacant seats with 6,945 openings.

The remaining vacancies are distributed across:

• NITs: 4,611 seats

• IIITs: 3,628 seats

• IIEST Shibpur: 239 seats

Of the total available seats, 13,156 are open under the gender-neutral category, while 2,267 seats are reserved for female candidates.

Over 3,000 Computer Science seats remain vacant

Despite being among the most preferred engineering branches, Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) also has a large number of unfilled seats after JoSAA.

A total of 3,098 CSE seats are available through the special round, including:

• GFTIs: 1,405 seats

• IIITs: 1,173 seats

• NITs: 503 seats

• IIEST Shibpur: 17 seats

For NITs, the vacant seats include 2,372 seats under the Other State quota, 2,081 under the Home State quota, and 158 seats across the Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh quotas.

Who can participate?

The CSAB special round is open to candidates who have a valid JEE Main 2026 rank and fulfil the required eligibility conditions.

The counselling gives students who could not secure a seat during JoSAA, or those looking for better options among centrally funded institutes, another chance to participate in the admission process.

CSAB 2026 important dates

The registration window opened on July 28, 2026, and candidates can submit applications until August 3 at 10 am.

The key milestones are:

• Mock seat allotment: July 31

• Choice filling deadline: August 5, 2 pm

• Round 1 allotment: August 6

• Online reporting and document verification: August 6–10

• Round 2 allotment: August 12

• Round 2 reporting: August 12–14

• Physical reporting at institutes: August 13–18

Candidates are advised to complete registration within the deadline and carefully rank their preferred choices, as allotment will depend on their JEE Main rank, eligibility and seat availability.