A senior official from the directorate told DT Next that it has received 1.62 lakh applications as on August 16. The number is likely to go up once the final tally is calculated. This is much higher than the number of applications last year when it received 1.32 lakh. This year, 1.47 lakh engineering seats are available in about 500 engineering colleges across the State.

 Of the total applicants, 1,25,722 candidates have paid their registration fees so far, said the official, adding that about 75 per cent of the students have already uploaded their original certificate as on date.

 After original certificates are uploaded, DoTE would assign random numbers for the students, and the certificate verification would commence on August 24. “The rank list will be declared on September 7 and general counselling will start from September 17,” he said.