HYDERABAD: More than 14,000 engineering seats remain vacant in Telangana after the second phase of TGEAPCET-2026 counselling, setting the stage for the final phase of admissions, where eligible candidates can seek changes in college or branch.
According to the State Board of Technical Education, of the 94,424 engineering seats available across 176 institutions, 80,167 were allotted, leaving 14,257 seats vacant. The overall seat-filling rate stood at 84.9%. As many as 60,792 candidates exercised their options during the second phase.
Private engineering colleges accounted for the majority of vacancies. Of the 86,387 seats available across 152 private institutions, 73,874 were filled, leaving 12,513 vacant. University institutions recorded 1,584 vacancies, while government institutions had 158 unfilled seats. The two private universities together reported only two vacancies.
A senior official said 8,118 seats in Computer Science and IT-related programmes remained vacant. Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) alone had 3,035 vacant seats, followed by CSE (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) with 1,753 vacancies and CSE (Data Science) with 1,329. Information Technology had another 599 unfilled seats.
Traditional engineering branches also witnessed significant vacancies. Electronics and Electrical programmes accounted for 3,696 vacant seats, including 2,052 in Electronics and Communication Engineering and 1,587 in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, said the official. Another 2,070 seats remained vacant in Civil, Mechanical and allied courses, with Mechanical Engineering accounting for 1,029 vacancies and Civil Engineering for 1,018. Other engineering programmes contributed 373 vacancies.
During the second phase, 34,828 candidates secured changes in their allotted seats, while 7,897 candidates received seats for the first time. The allotments of 37,442 candidates remained unchanged, the official added.
Admission authorities said all eligible candidates can participate in the final phase of counselling to seek a change of college or branch. However, candidates who received allotments in the second phase but fail to report to the allotted college will not be allowed to exercise options in the final phase.
Candidates whose college or branch is changed in the final phase will have to report in person to the newly allotted college between August 5 and August 7.