Karnataka Common Entrance Test(KCET)

About the exam

About KCET

KCET decides who gets a government seat in Karnataka's professional colleges, but the paper is only half of it. Before a rank counts, a candidate has to fit one of the eligibility clauses in the Karnataka Examinations Authority's rules, and the clause decides whether reservation applies at all. For engineering, farm science and naturopathy, the rank then blends the entrance test with second PUC or Class 12 marks.

KEA calls the test UGCET-2026 on its portal and mostly CET-2026 in its bulletin, and the introduction to the UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1 names it the Karnataka Common Entrance Test 2026; one agriculture fee notice on KEA's UGCET-2026 notice list is headed KCET - 2026. The test is held for Karnataka candidates and wards of Jammu and Kashmiri migrants, for the government share of seats in government, university, private aided and private unaided institutions across the state.

That phrase, government share of seats, sets the scope for every course ranked on the test. Private unaided institutions are on the list, so a government seat is not the same thing as a seat in a government college. The bulletin also states that admission to these seats follows the Karnataka Selection of Candidates for Admission to Government Seats in Professional Educational Institutions Rules, 2006 (the CET-2006 Admission Rules), and that the Rules win wherever the bulletin and the Rules differ.

KEA's own bulletin treats COMED-K as a separate board, listed alongside JEE and NEET as another route to a seat. A candidate who holds a KEA seat and takes a seat through one of those other boards is told to cancel the KEA seat before the final round, or risk civil and criminal action for blocking a seat.

Two separate tests sit inside every application:

• The clause test. Rule 5(1) of the CET-2006 Admission Rules lists the conditions under which a candidate can claim a government seat at all.
• The course test. Each course has its own subjects, marks bar and merit formula, and some courses need no KEA paper.

The bulletin states that applying for, appearing in or qualifying in CET-2026 confers no right to a seat until the eligibility conditions are met and the certificates are submitted.

At a glance

KCET highlights

Calendar

Important dates

The CET-2026 calendar in the UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1 set these dates for the 2026 cycle:

Those closing dates did not hold. The UGCET-2026 notice list carries a notice dated 13-02-2026 extending registration and a "final opportunity" notice dated 21-02-2026, and a notice dated 04/03/2026 reopened fee payment for candidates who had already registered. The bulletin left the result date, the agriculturist practical test and the special-category document dates to be published later.

After the test, the same UGCET-2026 notice list dates the rest of the 2026 cycle: revised key answers on 10-05-2026, result links on 06/06/2026, a top 10 rank holders list on 16-06-2026, the first-round option entry schedule on 20-06-2026, first-round provisional results on 13-07-2026, the second-round final result note on 24/08/2026, and the third-round final seat allotment on 07/09/2026.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

A candidate needs two things at once: an eligibility clause for government seats, and the academic eligibility for the chosen course. Indian citizenship is the general rule for the first, but not the only door: clauses a1 and b1 below admit OCI and PIO candidates to General Category seats.

The Clauses for Government Seats

The UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1 says no candidate is eligible for a government seat unless he or she is a citizen of India and satisfies any one of the clauses below, each backed by its own set of documents.

• Clause a. Studied and passed in government or government-recognised institutions in Karnataka for at least seven academic years between 1st standard and 2nd PUC or 12th, counted as on 1st July of the test year, and passed either SSLC/10th or 2nd PUC/12th from Karnataka. A year repeated in the same class counts once.
• Clause a1. OCI and PIO candidates with the same seven years of Karnataka study, under the Supreme Court's orders in W.P. (C) 891/2021 cited in the bulletin. They are treated at par with Indian citizens for General Category seats and cannot claim reservation.
• Clause b. Studied and passed both years of PUC (or 11th and 12th) in Karnataka, and either parent studied in Karnataka for at least seven years.
• Clause b1. The OCI and PIO version of clause b, again for General Category seats only.
• Clause c. The candidate's and either parent's mother tongue is Kannada, Tulu, Kodava or Beary, either parent was domiciled in Karnataka, the qualifying exam was passed outside Karnataka, and the candidate lives outside the state as on 1st May 2026. The Kannada Language Test applies.
• Clause d. Mother tongue Kannada, Tulu, Kodava or Beary, and seven years of residence and study between 1st and 12th standard in the disputed Kannada-speaking areas: South Sholapur, Akkalkot, Jath or Gadhinglaj taluks of Maharashtra, or Kasargod, Hosadurga or Manjeshwar taluks of Kerala. The Kannada Language Test applies.
• Clause e. Child of defence personnel who worked continuously in Karnataka for at least one year during the candidate's two years of PUC, with the qualifying exam passed in Karnataka.
• Clause f. Child of serving defence personnel who declared a Karnataka home town on joining; the qualifying exam can be from anywhere in India.
• Clause g. Child of defence personnel who served in Karnataka for at least one year, is posted to the disturbed areas of Jammu and Kashmir or the North-East, and whose family is permitted to stay in Karnataka, with the qualifying exam passed in Karnataka.
• Clause h. Child of an ex-serviceman who declared a Karnataka home town on joining; the qualifying exam can be from anywhere in India.
• Clause i. Child of a transferable employee of the Union Government, or of a Union, Karnataka or joint sector undertaking, who worked in Karnataka for at least one year during the candidate's PUC years, with the qualifying exam passed in Karnataka.
• Clause j. Child of a working or retired employee of those same employers who declared a Karnataka home town, studied in Karnataka for seven years and is transferable anywhere in India.
• Clause k. Child of a Member of Parliament elected from Karnataka.
• Clause l. Child of a serving or retired All India Service officer of the Karnataka cadre or Karnataka government employee who served outside the state; the years the candidate studied outside during that posting count towards the seven years of clause a.
• Clause m. Child of Jammu and Kashmiri migrants, eligible only for the seats the government earmarks, subject to government directions.
• Clause n. Ten full academic years in Kannada medium, 1st to 10th standard, outside Karnataka, with the qualifying exam passed from a government or government-recognised institution. No Kannada Language Test.
• Clause o. Child of a working or retired Central Armed Police Force employee who declared a Karnataka home town on joining.
• Clause y. Non-Karnataka candidates registering for B.Sc Nursing, who are not eligible for any other UGCET course. The bulletin's B.Sc Nursing note adds that non-Karnataka candidates cannot take the government share of B.Sc Nursing seats through KEA, and cannot claim reservation.

The clause also switches reservation on or off. The bulletin applies the SC, ST, Category-1, 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B criteria only to candidates under clauses a, b, f, h, j, k, l and o, and not to clauses c, d, e, g, i, m, n and y.

Horanadu and Gadinadu Kannadiga Candidates

Candidates under the Horanadu and Gadinadu Kannadiga clauses, c and d, whose mother tongue is Kannada, Tulu, Kodava or Beary sit a separate paper, meant to establish that they can speak, read and write Kannada. The UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1 sets it at 4th Standard level for 50 marks, and a candidate needs 12 out of 50 to be assigned a rank at all. Those who studied ten full years in Kannada medium outside Karnataka, including clause n candidates, are exempt.

KEA's documents disagree on two details of this paper. The bulletin names four centres (Bengaluru, Belagavi, Vijayapura and Mangalore), while KEA's admit card press note for CET-2026 says the test would be held only at Bangalore, Belgaum and Mangalore. The bulletin calls it a 4th Standard level paper, while the Kannada text of KEA's examinations schedule graphic describes it at 5th class level.

Academic Eligibility by Course

Each course sets its own subjects, qualifying-exam minimum and merit formula. "Reserved" below means SC, ST, Category-1, 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B candidates, per the bulletin.

For engineering, the compulsory qualifying subjects are Physics and Mathematics, not Physics and Chemistry. The UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1 names Chemistry as only one of the optional subjects that can sit alongside them, with Bio-Technology, Biology, Electronics and Computer Science, and lets marks in any of those four replace a low Chemistry mark when checking the 45% eligibility, but not when working out the rank. Farm science is not a Physics, Chemistry and Biology course either: it needs Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology in the qualifying exam and ranks on all four. For B.Sc Nursing, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English must each be passed individually.

Farm science and B.V.Sc & A.H. also carry an agriculturist quota, decided partly by a separate practical test on identifying agriculture-related specimens, marked out of 200 and run by the agricultural and veterinary universities. The bulletin builds that quota's farm science merit list from 25% of second PUC PCMB marks, 25% of CET marks and 50% of the practical, builds the B.V.Sc list from 50% of CET PCB marks and 50% of the practical, and requires 50% in the practical to claim the quota at all.

Other routes run through the same application without a KEA paper. Architecture seats go by NATA-2026, Medical, Dental and AYUSH seats by UGNEET, and BPT, B.Sc Allied Health Science, BPO and D.Pharm seats by PUC marks alone, but every one of these candidates must still register for CET-2026 and pay the fee to join KEA's counselling. The UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1 sets 40% in PCB for BPT (35% reserved), 50% in PCB or PCM for BPO (45% reserved), and 35% in PCB for B.Sc AHS and D.Pharm. KEA's CET-2026 admission notification adds that non-Karnataka candidates are not eligible for engineering courses through KEA, nor for reservation.

A few rules cut across courses. The UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1 requires B.Pharm, Pharm-D and Naturopathy and Yoga candidates to have completed seventeen years of age by 31st December 2026, rejects qualifying exams from Karnataka State Open University or from universities missing from the list on the VTU website, and lets a student still waiting for 2nd PUC or 12th results apply. A KEA note on determination of merit, listed on 14-04-2026 in the UGCET-2026 notice list, says CET-2026 ranks use the higher of a candidate's marks in the 2026 Second PUC Exam-1 and Exam-2.

Reservations That Depend on the Clause

Reservation has to be claimed in the online application, and the bulletin says a candidate who is eligible for a reservation but did not claim it there cannot get it. Caste, income and Kalyana Karnataka claims also need a certificate carrying an RD number. The UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1 sets these horizontal and regional reservations:

• Rural. The bulletin reserves 15% of government seats for candidates who studied ten full years, 1st to 10th standard, outside the urban areas the bulletin lists. General Merit candidates also need a Non Creamy Layer Certificate.
• Kannada medium. The bulletin reserves 5% of government seats for ten full years in Kannada medium, 1st to 10th standard.
• Kalyana Karnataka (Article 371(J)). Under the bulletin, 70% of the seats in every course of a regional university or institution located in Bidar, Gulbarga, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal and Bellary-Vijayanagar go to local persons, and 8% of the seats in statewide institutions are allocated among local candidates, on an Assistant Commissioner's Annexure-A certificate.
• Special categories. NCC, Sports, Scouts and Guides, Defence, Ex-Defence, Physically Disabled (the bulletin rules out candidates with less than 40% disability, and a medical board examines claimants at KEA in Bengaluru), Anglo-Indian, CAPF and Ex-CAPF. One seat in each engineering college is reserved for wards of Jammu and Kashmiri migrants, subject to government directions.

The income limit for 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B reservation in the bulletin is Rs 8.00 lakh, and Scheduled Caste candidates must hold a caste certificate showing their internal reservation as Category-A, B or C. Engineering also carries a Supernumerary Quota of 5% of seats in each college and course, over and above the seat matrix, which waives the government tuition fee for candidates of any category, General Merit included, whose family income is below Rs 8.00 lakh; it does not apply to Architecture.

Step by step

Application process and fee

One application covers every professional course KEA allots, from Engineering and Nursing to Medical and D.Pharm, and it is filed online only. The UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1 calls it an application-cum-verification module: school study details are pulled through the candidate's SATS number, and caste, income, Kalyana Karnataka and NCLC certificates through their RD numbers from the Revenue Department's web service.

The CET-2026 process differed by clause:

1. Register with a mobile number (one number for one application only), verify the OTP and fill the form.
2. The system returns a Claim Certificate marking each claim as "Claimed & Verified", "Claimed but Not Verified" or "Not Claimed".
3. A clause a candidate claiming none of the reservations in the next step, whose seven years of Karnataka study are confirmed, sees "Successfully Verified" and prints the application without visiting any office.
4. A clause a candidate claiming Kannada medium, rural, Tulu, Tamil, Telugu or Kodava linguistic minority, or Muslim or Christian religious minority reservation first has documents checked at his or her own college or any government college, and only then can print the form.
5. Candidates under the other clauses have their documents checked by KEA itself.

KEA's CET-2026 document verification note, listed on 04-05-2026 in the UGCET-2026 notice list, called candidates under clauses a1, b1 and b to o to its office in Bengaluru in person on a booked slot, exempted clause y candidates, and said only those who got eligibility at verification could enter options.

The bulletin requires the name on the SSLC marks card to match the Aadhaar card and the caste or income certificates, and it says caste, category and income details entered in the application stay fixed for ranking and allotment. A correction notice dated 24-02-2026 in the UGCET-2026 notice list allowed edits to submitted applications after the closing date but ruled out any new application, and gave Scheduled Caste candidates time to enter an RD number showing internal reservation.

The CET-2026 bulletin fixes the last date to pay the application fee but does not print the fee amount. The published charges are these:

• Option entry registration. Rs 750, non-refundable, paid by candidates of every category before they can enter options, per the UGCET-2026 Method of Online Seat Allotment.
• Agriculturist quota practical test. Rs 500 for General and OBC candidates and Rs 250 for SC, ST and Category-1, paid by demand draft at the test centre, per the UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1.

Fee exemption is separate from reservation. The UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1 exempts Karnataka SC and ST candidates from 100% of fees below an annual income of Rs 10.00 lakh, and exempts Category-1 candidates below Rs 2.50 lakh from fees in government colleges, with private colleges deducting the government-college fee.

Before the exam

Admit card and exam day

The admission ticket for CET-2026 was downloadable from 10-04-2026, per the UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1, which puts the release at 11.00 am. KEA's CET-2026 admit card press note gives a later afternoon release time, and adds that the login asks for the qualifying exam board, registration or roll number and year of passing after the OTP. The bulletin tells candidates to keep the admit card until they are admitted to a college.

Each session splits its time. The UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1 gives the first 10 minutes to writing and shading name, CET number, version code and booklet serial number, and the next 70 minutes to shading answers. An OMR sheet with a wrong CET number or version code is not scanned, and neither is a sheet without the candidate's left thumb impression, which is taken at the end of each session.

The OMR comes as two sheets. The bottom copy acts as carbon and is handed back after each session, and the bulletin asks candidates to keep these replicas for at least a year from the date of the admission order.

The Kannada-language CET-2026 prohibited items and dress code notice says candidates go through a strict security check before entry, with CCTV and AI-based face recognition among the identity checks, and that there is no place to store banned items at the centre. It bars:

• printed or written study material, chits, geometry and pencil boxes, calculators, pen drives, erasers, log tables and electronic pens or scanners;
• mobile phones, Bluetooth devices, earphones, microphones and pagers;
• wallets, goggles, handbags, belts and caps, watches, bracelets and cameras, and any concealed device such as a microchip;
• opened or packed food and water bottles;
• full-sleeve clothing, anything covering the ears, head or face, jewellery and metal items except the mangalsutra, and shoes, with slippers or low-heeled sandals preferred.

Candidates using a hearing aid or cochlear implant, and those who want to wear religious attire, must report 2 hours before the paper, at 8.30 am or 12.30 pm, for separate checking, per the same dress code notice.

Structure

Exam pattern

CET-2026 ran over two days in four sessions, one subject each, per the UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1:

A candidate writes only the papers the course needs, and the bulletin's subject list splits the courses four ways. Engineering takes Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Farm science takes all four papers, Mathematics included, because its rank is built on PCMB. B.V.Sc & A.H., naturopathy and B.Sc Nursing take Physics, Chemistry and Biology. B.Pharm, second-year B.Pharm and Pharm-D are the only courses with a choice, ranked on whichever of the PCM and PCB totals is higher.

The marking rules in the UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1 are short:

• Questions are objective, each with four options, and each carries one mark; there is no choice of questions, and the bulletin expects candidates to attempt all of them.
• There is no negative evaluation for a wrong answer, but a question with more than one circle shaded gets no marks.
• Each subject comes in several versions, and a candidate may or may not get the same version code across sessions.
• Answers are shaded with a blue or black ballpoint pen; the bulletin explains that a nib pen does not press hard enough to mark the carbon copy.
• KEA does not entertain re-totalling or revaluation of OMR sheets.

Ties are broken by subject. For engineering, equal merit goes to the higher CET Mathematics mark, then CET Physics, then the qualifying exam marks, then age, with the elder candidate placed first.

What to study

Syllabus

The UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1 bases the papers on the first and second PUC syllabi of Karnataka's Department of Pre-University Education, and says subject experts of the Department of School Education (Pre-University) reviewed the PCMB syllabus before KEA published the CET-2026 version.

KEA posted that version as a separate PDF for each subject, such as the CET-2026 Physics syllabus. Each is laid out as Class XI and Class XII units with teaching periods, and the documents differ in what they add beyond theory:

• Physics has an "Experimental Skills" unit in both years, from the vernier callipers and screw gauge in Class XI to the resistivity of a wire using Ohm's law in Class XII.
• Chemistry closes each year with "Principles related to Practical Chemistry", covering detection of elements and functional groups, titrations and salt analysis.
• Biology has a "Principles Related to Practical Biology" section in both years.
• Mathematics lists theory only, with Class XII running through matrices, calculus, vectors and three-dimensional geometry, linear programming and probability.

How to prepare

Preparation and books

KEA's own syllabus documents name the books. The CET-2026 Mathematics syllabus cites the NCERT Mathematics textbooks for Class XI and XII as its reference, and the Physics, Chemistry and Biology documents cite the NCERT textbooks for both classes together with the NCERT laboratory manuals.

Past papers come from KEA too. Its 2026 question paper page carries the UGCET-2026 Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology papers, and a separate previous year question paper page holds earlier CET papers with key answers.

For the answer sheet itself, the bulletin points to a specimen OMR sheet hosted on the KEA website and asks candidates to take four to five photocopies and practise writing and shading their name, CET number and version code at home.

Where it is held

Exam centres

A candidate who passed or is taking the qualifying exam in Karnataka writes CET-2026 at a centre KEA assigns within the district where he or she studied 2nd PUC or 12th standard, per the UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1. Horanadu and Gadinadu Kannadiga candidates must write the main test at one of the Kannada Language Test centres as well.

KEA's UGCET-2026 Diksuchi booklet lists the CET-2026 exam places district by district. Some districts have one town and others several: Bagalkot district has Bagalkot and Jamkhandi, Belgaum district has Belgaum, Athani, Chikkodi and Gokak, and Dakshina Kannada has Mangalore, Moodbidre, Puttur and Ujire.

Neither the agriculturist practical nor the disability check happens at a CET centre. The agriculturist quota practical test is held by the agricultural and veterinary universities at Bangalore, Hassan, Mandya, Raichur, Mysore, Munirabad, Arabhavai, Tamaka, Mangalore, Bidar, Bagalkot, Dharwad, Vijayapura, Hiriyur and Shimoga, and the medical examination for Physically Disabled candidates happens only at KEA's office in Bengaluru.

After the exam

Answer key

Under the UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1, KEA publishes a provisional key after the test, takes objections online only and with supporting documents, and evaluates the OMR sheets against whatever answer an expert committee settles on, a decision the bulletin calls final.

KEA's CET-2026 key answer note, issued in Kannada, asked each objection to give the paper, exam date, version code and question number with supporting documents as a PDF, and said objections missing the question number or version code, or without a basis, would not be considered.

The revised key answers dated 10-05-2026 in the UGCET-2026 notice list settled the challenges. The revised key awards grace marks for one Physics question and one Chemistry question, accepts either of two options for one Biology question, and makes no change in Mathematics.

Scores

Result and scorecard

KEA publishes separate result sheets for Engineering, Architecture, Farm Science, B-Pharm and Pharm-D ranks on its website, along with the correct key and a list of withheld results with reasons, per the UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1. Result sheets are not displayed at KEA's premises. For CET-2026, the UGCET-2026 notice list carries three result links dated 06/06/2026.

Objections to anything other than the CET marks, such as qualifying exam marks, version code or NEET and NATA scores, must reach KEA within three days of publication, per the bulletin. A result withheld for missing marks gets an intermediary rank once the marks arrive, slotted between existing ranks without renumbering anyone; the bulletin's example places a late candidate at 1234.0625, between ranks 1234 and 1235.

The route for board marks changed during the 2026 cycle. The bulletin asked CBSE, CISCE and other board students to enter their marks online or send a photocopy, but a later CBSE, CISCE and other board marks note says those marks are fetched only through DigiLocker, with no provision to enter marks manually or send a marks card, and that a candidate who does not update them will have the result withheld.

Scores you need

Cutoff

KEA prescribes no minimum mark in the entrance test for the courses ranked on it; the bulletin's merit table repeats "No Minimum Marks prescribed in CET" for each of them. The only marks bars in the bulletin are the qualifying exam percentages above, plus 12 out of 50 in the Kannada Language Test and 50% in the agriculturist practical test for those routes.

The cutoff that decides a seat is the closing rank in allotment. The UGCET-2026 Method of Online Seat Allotment says KEA hosts cutoff ranks for 2025 and earlier years, college-wise, course-wise and category-wise, each showing the last rank admitted. The same brochure says the ranks are for information only, will not be the same every year, and should not be the basis for entering options.

Mock allotment gives a preview. After each mock round, candidates can view college-wise, course-wise and category-wise mock cutoff ranks and change their options before the real allotment.

Getting a seat

Counselling and seat allotment

KEA runs counselling itself, online, in what it calls a 2 + 1 round system. Each stage below is taken from the UGCET-2026 Method of Online Seat Allotment.

Before the First Round

1. Download the verification slip, which prints the candidate's category, reservation claims and a rank for each eligible discipline, and report any discrepancy to KEA before the first round.
2. Study the government's seat matrix and fee structure on the KEA website.
3. Log in to option entry by scanning the slip's QR code, OTP and live face recognition, pay the Rs 750 non-refundable registration fee set in the seat allotment brochure, and enter options.

Option entry is one list across disciplines. Priority numbers run once across Medical, Engineering, Farm Science, Pharmacy and the rest, there is no limit on the number of options, and the options saved at the deadline are frozen.

Mock Allotment, Real Allotment and the Four Choices

The brochure gives a rhythm: at least seven to eight days for option entry, mock results 3 days after that closes, 3 days to add, delete or reorder options, and the real result 3 days later. Provisional results come first, objections are taken, and final results follow.

After the first round, an allotted candidate must pick one of four choices or lose the seat:

• Choice 1. Accept the seat, pay the fee, download the confirmation slip and report to the college, leaving counselling.
• Choice 2. Keep the seat and try for a higher option in round two; a better allotment cancels the old seat automatically, with no going back.
• Choice 3. Give up the seat and take part in round two with the remaining options.
• Choice 4. Leave KEA counselling altogether, for example after taking admission elsewhere.

After round two only Choice 1 or Choice 4 is offered, and after round three there is no choice: the allotted candidate must pay and join. Admission is final only when the college, after checking original documents, confirms the candidate by face recognition and a WhatsApp OTP and downloads the admission order from its own portal.

Order of Allotment

The computer allots Physically Disabled, NCC and Sports seats first, then disciplines in a fixed order starting with Medical and Dental, repeating until no allotment changes. The brochure says reserved-category candidates are considered for General Merit seats first, and engineering candidates are considered against Supernumerary Quota seats first if eligible. Unfilled rural and Kannada medium seats of a reserved category convert to that category's general seats before the second phase.

KEA's Fee Schedule for Engineering Seats

KEA publishes the government's fee for each seat type. The UGCET-2026 Provisional Fee Structure for engineering and architecture in 2026-27 includes these rows, in rupees:

The same fee structure says architecture candidates pay Rs 750 on top of these fees, and that university fees of 12,320 for engineering and 13,070 for architecture are already included. The Category-1 column is not zero for any college type, government colleges included, and KEA's UGCET-2026 Sarala Diksuchi describes the Category-1 benefit as a partial fee exemption.

Cancelling a Seat

The UGCET-2026 Method of Online Seat Allotment sets the cost of walking away. A candidate who reported to the college on a first or second round seat and surrenders it before the last date for third-round options gets the fee back minus Rs 5,000 as processing fee; after the third round the whole fee is forfeited, and an engineering candidate also owes a penalty of five times the fee.

KEA's two documents disagree on how to surrender. The bulletin says a seat is surrendered only to KEA online, while the seat allotment brochure says only to KEA in person.

How the 2026 Rounds Ran

KEA dropped a planned pre-round for 2026 and started directly with the first round, per its first-round announcement, and its third-round notification asked candidates to enter options afresh, ignoring earlier lists. Its note on seats left after the third round, in Kannada, says three rounds of engineering counselling are complete and that seats still unallotted go back to the colleges under the government's consensual agreement with the private college associations.

Medical and dental seats, reached through the same application, were still being allotted in September 2026 on KEA's separate schedule: its UGNEET-2026 notice list posted second-round provisional allotment lists for both on 11-09-2026.

Where it is accepted

Participating institutes

KEA does not run colleges; it allots the government's share of their seats. The UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1 covers government, university, private aided and private unaided professional institutions in Karnataka, with every allotment subject to approval by the government, the university and bodies such as AICTE, COA, PCI and NMC.

The fee structure shows the spread of engineering institutions in the 2026 counselling: government colleges, aided courses in aided colleges, UVCE, VTU constituent colleges, Type-1 and Type-2 unaided colleges including minority institutions, and private and deemed universities. Farm science seats sit in government colleges, private colleges and KLE College of Agricultural Science, which the fee table lists separately.

The seat matrix changes through the cycle. The UGCET-2026 notice list carries several batches of engineering management surrender seat matrices and additional seat matrices for engineering, farm science and pharmacy. For college-level detail, the seat allotment brochure points candidates to KEA's college portal.

Get help

Contact

KEA sits at 18th Cross, Sampige Road, Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, per the UGCET-2026 Information Bulletin-1, whose title page gives the e-mail keaugcet26@gmail.com and the helpline 080 - 23 460 460. The bulletin also tells candidates that KEA's messages come from the number 90 35 05 34 84.

The bulletin disagrees with itself on the e-mail address and the helpline. Its front cover, the page before the title page, prints keaugcet25@gmail.com and a 10-line helpline from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm, the same details as the CBSE, CISCE and other board marks note and the KEA examinations schedule, while the title page gives 5 lines.

Two other rules apply to any dispute. Under the bulletin, an order of KEA's Executive Director under the CET-2006 Rules can be appealed within 15 days to the Principal Secretary, Education Department (Higher Education), and disputes over the test, seat selection, fees or cancellation fall under the High Court of Karnataka. The bulletin also warns against touts who claim contacts inside KEA and promise seats through unfair means, and asks candidates to report them to KEA by e-mail.

Source

Official links

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Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Exact exam dates, application windows, answer keys, results, cutoffs, and per-category qualifying marks vary by cycle and must be verified from the official KEA website for the relevant year. Anything per-cycle here is stated for the cycle it names and is taken from the conducting body's own notification; confirm it on the official website before acting on it. Expertie does not conduct any exam, process applications or charge fees.

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