Students rush to cancel engineering seats as KEA prepares for third counselling round
Heavy footfall and online glitches marked the Karnataka Examinations Authority's office as candidates sought to give up second‑round allocations for a chance at better colleges.
The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) faced a surge of activity on Monday as hundreds of engineering aspirants and their families gathered at its headquarters to cancel seats allotted in the second round of counselling. The move is driven by the upcoming third round, which promises a reshuffle of available seats based on updated preferences and remaining vacancies.
Under KEA’s rules, any candidate who did not mark a particular college as Choice‑1 in the first round but wishes to re‑enter the process must first relinquish the seat received in the second round. The deadline for online cancellation was set for 5 p.m., and the authority warned that only those who complete the step in time will be eligible for the third‑round allotments.
Long queues formed outside the KEA office in Bengaluru, while the online portal experienced repeated slowdowns and temporary outages. Staff members directed students to submit their cancellation requests through the official website, but many reported error messages and delayed confirmations. “We have been waiting for hours; the system keeps crashing,” one parent said, reflecting the frustration of several families.
KEA officials acknowledged the congestion and said they were deploying additional technical support to clear the backlog. A spokesperson emphasized that the cancellation process is essential to ensure that seats are re‑released for other candidates before the third round begins on Thursday. The authority also reminded students that once a seat is cancelled, it cannot be reclaimed, and they must submit a fresh preference list for the next round.
Education analysts note that the intense competition for top engineering colleges in Karnataka often leads to multiple counselling rounds, with each iteration reshaping the admission landscape. The current wave of cancellations suggests that many candidates still hope to secure seats in premier institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science and National Institutes of Technology, which remain highly sought after despite earlier allocations.
As the deadline approaches, KEA urges applicants to verify their cancellation status online and to keep an eye on official notifications for the third‑round schedule. The authority’s ability to process the high volume of requests will likely influence the smoothness of the upcoming counselling phase.