Seat confirmed elsewhere, yet other state candidates block MBBS seats in Maharashtra

MUMBAI: Rohit, a NEET aspirant from Rajasthan, holds a seat at the Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU in Varanasi. Yet, as Maharashtra reopened registrations for the third round of MBBS admissions, his name appeared here. He isn’t the only one. Sneha, an EWS-category student from Jharkhand with state rank 131 and a seat in a govt medical college, has also turned up in Maharashtra’s counselling records. They are among 224 students—most from outside the state—who have suddenly shown interest in Maharashtra’s medical colleges. Many don’t even qualify under the domicile rules. Their presence raises questions about how these out-of-state candidates found their way into a process meant for Maharashtra’s own. “We noticed students with very high scores from other states – some who already