The State Common Entrance Test Cell has issued Notice No. 12, and it changes something most candidates would assume was settled: the final merit list for MBBS and BDS is going to be revised.
Why the list is changing
The NTA had withheld the results of some candidates. The Bombay High Court and the Delhi High Court, in recent orders, directed that the results of the petitioner candidates be declared and that they be allowed to take part in the ongoing CAP process. The courts directed that those results be shared by 27 August 2026.
Once the results reach the CET Cell, those candidates enter the process. In the Cell’s own words, this “will alter the Final Merit list”, and a revised final merit list will be published on the website.
If candidates are inserted above you, your position moves down. How much depends on how many there are and where they land, and neither is known yet.
You can still change your choices, until 29 August
This is the part to act on. The preference form can be edited any number of times until 29 August 2026 at 5.30 pm, by unlocking it with an OTP sent to your registered email and mobile.
The Cell makes the point explicitly: candidates can edit their choices after the revised merit list is declared, if they wish. So if you have already locked your form, do not treat it as finished. Look at the revised list when it appears, then decide whether your order still makes sense.
The choice-filling rules worth re-reading
- You may fill a minimum of one and a maximum of all colleges.
- Private colleges appear twice, under State Quota and Institute Quota, and the fees differ. Selecting the wrong one is selecting a different price for the same college, so check the quota on every private entry.
- Some colleges run both MBBS and BDS. Verify the course on each choice before submitting.
- Order the list by genuine preference, most wanted at the top. Allotment follows your order.
- Lock the form when done. The last saved or locked set of preferences is what goes to allotment.
- If you never lock it, the last filled preferences are auto-saved at the end of the schedule. Nothing changes after that.
One more clause deserves attention. The Cell states that if choices are edited or filled wrongly through your login, it is treated as filled by you, and the office is not responsible for any loss. If someone else is filling the form on your behalf, that risk sits with you.
234 candidates are on the not-qualified list
Alongside the merit list, the Cell published a list of candidates not qualified for NEET UG 2026, running to 234 names. It is a separate document from the merit list, and being on it means you are outside this process rather than low in it.
A note on what “final” means here
The document published on 26 August is titled the Round 1 Final Merit List of registered candidates. Its own disclaimer, however, describes it as the provisional merit list, based on information given in the registration form and e-verification of uploaded documents, with admission taking place only after original certificates are verified at the admitting college.
Read together with Notice 12, the position is straightforward: treat the list published on 26 August as a working position, not a settled one, and check the revised list when it is put up.
Our Maharashtra cutoff pages carry closing ranks by college, category and seat type, and the predictor shows which seats your rank reaches. We also covered Notice 11 and the revised seat matrix, including the three colleges that are sitting out the first round.
Sources: State Common Entrance Test Cell, Maharashtra, Notice No. 12, ref. MED-1026/CR.No.83/UG-2026/MBBS-BDS/Choice filling/2107, dated 26/08/2026; the List of Not Qualified candidates of NEET-UG-2026 dated 26/08/2026, counted at 234 entries; and the Round 1 Final Merit List of registered candidates, Group A. Candidate names in those lists are not reproduced here.