MBBS approach: NTRUHS software disadvantages reserved category students, claims Liberation Congress Party

Former IAS officer and Liberation Congress Party national president Vijaya Kumar claimed that Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences (NTRUHS) uses specially designed software to disadvantage Backward Classes (BC), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates in MBBS admissions by restricting their access to seats in open competition from the second round of counseling onwards.

Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Mr. Vijay Kumar said that the software prevented eligible candidates from the reserved category from securing seats in the open category on the basis of merit even though they had better ranks than candidates from other categories.

He alleged that the system favors upper caste candidates in subsequent rounds of counselling, thus depriving meritorious reserved category students of fair opportunities.

According to him, although candidates from the reserved category constituted more than 50% in the merit list, nearly 90% of the candidates entering the open category from the second round were said to belong to upper castes.

He argued that the procedure violated the principles underlying GO 550 and 102, along with relevant Supreme Court judgments and State Government guidelines, which recognize the eligibility of candidates from all categories for seats in open competition.

Mr. Vijay Kumar alleged that the software allowed reserved category candidates to upgrade their colleges but prevented them from upgrading their admission category during subsequent rounds of counselling.

He cited the example of a BC candidate who secured a reserved category seat in Guntur Medical College in the first round. According to him, a candidate should be able to seek admission to a better college while retaining the opportunity to compete for a seat in the open category based on merit.

Mr. Vijay Kumar alleged that the software automatically rearranged college preferences when candidates added new options, affecting their chances of category upgrade.

Mr. Vijay Kumar alleged that all the candidates admitted in open category in Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) region belonged to upper caste OC category. In the Andhra University (AU) region, only a few BCD candidates entered the open category through intra-college upgradation.

He estimated that about 60 to 70 eligible candidates from reserved communities had lost their chances of admission due to the alleged restrictions.

Andhra Pradesh Medical Parents Association president Ala Venkateswarlu demanded immediate action against the officials responsible for developing the software.

Published – 21 Oct 2026 21:11 IST