‘Cancel admissions’: Jamia Millia students allege lower rank-holders given seats over toppers, protest

“In the general waiting list, I was ranked 27th. They admitted candidates ranked 33rd and 40th, but not me. In the Muslim category, I was ranked 12th, yet candidates ranked below me were admitted,” said Faizan Ali Khan, who is seeking admission to the MA Gender Studies programme at Jamia Millia Islamia’s Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women’s Studies. The programme has 30 seats. Khan is also the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) president at JMI.

Students at Jamia Millia Islamia have alleged irregularities in the university’s spot admission process, claiming that candidates lower on waiting lists were admitted while those with higher ranks were left out.

Written complaints submitted to the controller of examinations have raised questions over the basis of spot admissions, the publication of merit and waiting lists, and the criteria used to fill vacant seats. Student organisations including NSUI, the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), AISRO have demanded greater transparency and an inquiry into the admission process.

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The allegations have led to a student protest at the Central Canteen of JMI, which began at 5 pm on August 24 and was continuing at the time this report was published. Students are seeking cancellation of JMI admissions allegedly made against the merit order, restoration of the J and K reservation, the resignation of the Controller of Examinations (COE), among others.

Khan is among the students to raise the issue. In a written complaint submitted to the controller of examinations (COE) on August 19, he sought clarification over the spot admission list. The complaint asks the university to review the selection and clarify the basis on which candidates with lower waiting positions were admitted.

Speaking to Careers360 , Khan said the university released only two admission lists before moving to the spot admission round. “Five or six lists are released every year. This time, they brought only two lists in every course. After that, they brought the spot list,” he said.

The JMI administration, however, has rejected the allegations. Jamia Millia Islamia’s chief spokesperson said, "The university rejects and denies the false, unfounded and baseless allegations being made."

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JMI Admission 2026: B.Ed student complains

Another written complaint submitted to the COE on August 20 by Insha Rehmani, an applicant for the B.Ed general programme, raises a similar concern.

In her complaint, Rehmani said she had secured fourth rank in the Muslim category and first in the Muslim OBC category. She alleged that a candidate with Rank 6 in the same Muslim category was granted admission against a general-category seat.

In the complaint, she also stated that she had registered for the spot admission conducted on August 17 and asked the university to review her case, saying that “appears to be a discrepancy in the admission and seat allocation process.”

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Jamia moves spot admissions offline

The student organisations allege that admission criteria and procedures were being changed without adequate explanation.

Students have also objected to the shift from online to offline spot admissions.

AISA JMI, in a statement shared on August 25, alleged that some students were being called for spot rounds without clear information about the basis of selection and that notices were issued at short notice. According to the organisation, such a process could disadvantage students from outside Delhi-NCR who may not have the financial means or time to travel to Delhi on short notice.

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AISA also alleged that the university had moved to spot-round admissions after releasing only two or three merit lists across several courses. It alleged that candidates from waiting lists were being selected selectively rather than according to a publicly stated serial or merit-based criteria.

SFI’s Jamia unit similarly raised concerns in its own statement. The organisation said, “Deserving candidates must receive the admissions that are rightfully theirs through a fair, verifiable and transparent process, not through alleged favouritism, arbitrary discretion or backdoor manipulation.”

JMI Admissions 2026: J and K Reservation

The students have also raised concerns about seats reserved for Jammu and Kashmir residents and Kashmiri migrants.

Faizan alleged that in BArch, two seats are reserved for J and K candidates, but the names of eligible candidates were not included in the selected lists. Instead, he claimed, candidates were placed on the waiting list under the J and K quota and were considered during the spot round.

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AIRSO JMI, in a statement shared on social media, also alleged that reserved seats for J&K residents and Kashmiri migrants in courses including architecture and fine arts were not being filled. It further raised concerns about PwD seats, saying similar issues had occurred in previous years.

The student organisations demand that vacant reserved seats for J and K residents, Kashmiri migrants and PwD students be filled.

After meeting the proctorial team, Ebin Basil, NSUI secretary of JMI, said in a video message posted on the NSUI Jamia Millia Islamia Instagram page on August 25 that the team was not ready to agree to any of the demands raised by the students. “They are not ready to accept their inefficiency or failure,” he said, adding that the discussion with the administration was a “complete failure”. He said the students would continue the sit-in protest until “favourable discussion comes on their part.”