How MBBS Seats Split: 15% All India, 85% State

Why MCC only counsels a fraction of India’s MBBS seats

The Supreme Court built this, in two steps

In Dr Pradeep Jain against Union of India in 1984 the Supreme Court held that residence based reservation must not exceed 70% of open seats. In Dr Dinesh Kumar against Motilal Nehru Medical College on 21 July 1986 the Court replaced that formula with the 15% of total seats that still applies.

The 15% is domicile free, the 85% is not

MCC’s 2026 information bulletin lists the All India Quota under the heading open seats, domicile free, and sets the eligibility as NEET UG qualified, domicile free, and as per NMC norms. The 85% state quota is run by each state’s own counselling authority under its own domicile rules.

MCC runs far more than the 15%

Alongside the 15% All India Quota, MCC counsels 100% of deemed university seats, 100% of AIIMS and JIPMER, the central universities including BHU and AMU, the 15% quota at Delhi University and IP University, and ESIC seats. For AFMC its role is limited to registration only.

Reservation inside the All India Quota

MCC applies 15% for SC, 7.5% for ST, 27% for OBC non creamy layer on the central list, 10% for EWS, and 5% horizontal reservation for PwD candidates. The 27% and 10% were introduced by the government notice of 29 July 2021 and upheld by the Supreme Court in January 2022.

You can run both, until Round 3

MCC’s counselling flowchart provides for candidates taking part in state counselling alongside All India Quota counselling, with rules for surrendering one seat to take the other. After joining a Round 3 seat, no resignation is allowed and the candidate cannot take part in any further counselling.

What 15% actually amounts to

NMC counts 63,971 government MBBS seats for 2026-27, so the 15% All India Quota drawn from them works out at roughly 9,600 seats. Against a national total of 1,40,214 MBBS seats, that is close to 7%, which is why state counselling decides most admissions.

Want to know more about how the counselling rounds run?

The four rounds, the deadlines, and where the exit points sit. Read now.