Following the conclusion of the final counseling rounds for CET-2025 and COMED-K-2025 this year, Karnataka is facing a concerning surge in vacant seats across its professional courses. A staggering 59,724 seats, including 33,568 engineering positions, remain unfilled, marking a significant increase from the 51,105 vacancies reported last year.
Out of 1,51,593 professional course seats allocated under the government quota, only 1,10,447 were successfully filled by the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA), leaving a substantial 41,146 seats empty. Adding to this challenge, 18,578 seats also went unclaimed in COMED-K, bringing the total number of professional course vacancies to almost 60,000.
Engineering courses alone account for a considerable portion of these vacancies. While 69,216 seats out of 84,206 available under CET-2025 were filled, 14,990 still remain empty. Similarly, in COMED-K, only 7,422 of the 26,000 engineering seats found takers, resulting in a hefty 18,578 vacancies.
Beyond engineering, the nursing sector is experiencing the highest number of unassigned positions. Out of 32,218 available nursing seats, a mere 12,386 were filled, leaving 19,832 vacant. The BSc Allied Health Science course also saw 1,977 of its 3,953 seats remain empty.
However, there’s a brighter side for certain disciplines: Food Science, BSc (Agriculture), Veterinary Science (BVSc), and Sericulture courses achieved 100% admissions, with all available seats being filled.
H. Prasanna, Executive Director of KEA, confirmed in an interview with The Hindu that the counseling process for non-medical professional courses, including engineering, is complete. He stated, “The remaining seats have been returned to their respective college managements. For government engineering colleges, the responsibility of filling these vacant seats now rests with the college principals.”
Any seats returned to private college managements will subsequently be reclassified as management quota seats, allowing institutions to fill them at their discretion.