First round of counselling would be for special reservation category, which would be held from October 1 to October 5, following which counselling for general candidates would begin from October 8 to October 27. Supplementary counselling would be done from October 29 to October 30, he said.

 After counselling sessions are over, tentative admission list would be prepared as per students’ choice. The final admission list would be declared by November, Anbalagan said, adding that reopening of colleges for the fresh batch would be announced soon.

 Of the 1.60 lakh candidates who had enrolled online, only 1.15 lakh uploaded original certificates. Of them, rank list was prepared for 1,10,873 candidates based on the marks they secured in Class 12 board exams.

 This year, 1.72 lakh engineering seats are available at about 500 colleges. The total number of engineering seats available through government quota in Staterun colleges is about 6,200.