Former IAS officer and national president of the Liberation Congress Party Vijaya Kumar has alleged that Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences (NTRUHS) is using specially designed software that disadvantages Backward Classes (BC), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates in MBBS admissions by restricting their access to open competition seats from the second round of counselling onwards.
Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Mr. Vijay Kumar alleged that the software prevented eligible reserved-category candidates from securing open category seats based on merit, even when they had better ranks than candidates from other categories.
He claimed that the system favoured upper-caste candidates in subsequent counselling rounds, depriving meritorious reserved-category students of fair opportunities.
According to him, though reserved-category candidates constituted more than 50% of the merit list, nearly 90% of candidates entering the open category from the second round onwards reportedly belonged to the upper castes.
He argued that the procedure violated the principles underlying G.O.s 550 and 102, along with relevant Supreme Court judgments and State Government directives, which recognised the eligibility of candidates from all categories for open competition seats.
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 at Guntur Medical College in the first round. According to him, the candidate should be eligible to seek admission to a better college, while retaining the opportunity to compete for an open category seat based on merit.
Mr. Vijay Kumar alleged that the software automatically rearranged college preferences when candidates added new options, affecting their chances of category upgradation.
Mr. Vijay Kumar claimed that all candidates admitted under the open category in the Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) region belonged to the upper-caste OC category. In the Andhra University (AU) region, only a few BCD candidates entered the open category through within-college upgradation.
He estimated that around 60 to 70 eligible candidates from reserved communities lost admission opportunities because of the alleged restrictions.
President of the Andhra Pradesh Medical Parents Association Ala Venkateswarlu demanded immediate action against officials responsible for developing the software.
Published - October 21, 2026 09:11 pm IST