‘Bureaucratic hurdle’: KCET rank list not updated after CBSE re-evaluation, affects admission, says student

With Karnataka Undergraduate Common Entrance Test (UGCET or KCET) option entry closing at 10 am on June 30 and counselling set to begin shortly after, several CBSE students whose Class 12 marks increased after revaluation say they are yet to receive revised ranks from the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), raising fears that they could lose out on engineering seats.

One such student is Bengaluru-based aspirant Sounak Nag, who says his revised CBSE marks have still not been considered by KEA despite repeated representations through email and in-person visits to the authority's office.

He appeared for Karnataka CET this year for admission to undergraduate engineering programmes in the state. Under the engineering admission process, KCET ranks are prepared by giving equal weightage to candidates' entrance examination scores and their Class 12 marks.

He added that he had initially received "unexpectedly low" scores in the CBSE Class 12 board examinations and believed the discrepancy was due to the Central Board of Secondary Education's On-Screen Marking (OSM) process. He subsequently applied for re-evaluation, following which his marks increased across all five subjects he told Academia360.

However, by the time the revised marks were declared, KEA had already released the UGCET rank list based on his original board scores, resulting in what he described as a disappointing rank. The KCET 2026 counselling process has already begun; option entry opened on June 20.

"I want my rank to be changed to reflect my actual performance," Nag told Academia360, adding that KEA had previously issued "spot ranks" to candidates whose board marks changed after revaluation.

KCET Counselling 2026: ‘Many affected’

According to Nag, he first tried contacting KEA through its helpline numbers but did not receive any response. He also sent emails to the authority requesting that his revised CBSE marks be updated in the KCET database.

In an email sent to KEA on June 22, a copy of which Academia360 has seen, Nag wrote: "I am writing to request an update to my Class 12 qualifying examination marks in the KEA database following the release of my official CBSE revaluation results."

After receiving no response, he visited the KEA office in Malleshwaram, Bengaluru, on June 24. "On visiting the KEA office in Malleshwaram, I met many people who were in the same situation as me," he said.

According to him, officials at the front desk told him that they did not know whether the revised marks would be considered. Instead, he was allegedly handed a blank sheet of paper and asked to submit a written representation along with copies of his KCET application form, original marksheet and revised CBSE marksheet.

‘KEA refused to acknowledge appeal’

Nag said he complied with the instructions and submitted the documents, but officials refused to provide an acknowledgement receipt for the submission.

In his written appeal to KEA dated June 29, the student said the delay was directly impacting his eligibility and ranking in the ongoing CET option entry process.

"Despite submitting these documents five days ago, my rank has not yet been updated and the website continues to reflect my old data. With the final portal closure deadline approaching, I am under severe distress regarding my college seat allotment," he wrote.

When his rank remained unchanged on the online portal, he said he returned to the KEA office on Saturday morning only to find it closed, with security personnel asking him to come back on Monday.

He visited the office again on Monday and said the response remained unchanged."The front desk staff told me the same thing—that they don't know if it will be considered and all that I can do is submit a written request," he said.

He said he had carried two copies of his representation during his second visit and requested officials to sign one copy as proof of submission. "I had already brought two copies of such a request and submitted one, and I asked if they could sign the other copy for acknowledgement but they refused to do so," he said.

To the higher education minister

Nag has also written to Karnataka Higher Education Minister Dr. Malapalli Chowdareddy Sudhakar seeking intervention. In his email to the minister, Nag wrote that CBSE students were facing a "major bureaucratic hurdle" with KEA regarding rank rectifications and warned that the delay could have serious consequences.

"Without a corrected rank reflecting my true, upgraded board marks, I stand to lose my rightful college seat entirely due to KEA administrative delays," he wrote.

With the option entry window set to close within hours and counselling scheduled to begin shortly after, Nag fears that if his rank is not revised before seat allotment begins, he could lose the opportunity to secure a college seat that he may otherwise be eligible for based on his updated scores

Academia360 has also reached out to the Karnataka Examinations Authority seeking clarification on whether it has received the candidate's requests and supporting documents, the procedure and timeline for updating re-evaluated board marks and revising students ranks, whether there are any issues causing the delay in this case, and by when affected candidates can expect their revised marks and ranks to be updated. If and when they respond, this story will be updated with their remarks.