Chhattisgarh NEET UG 2026 Round 1: What the MBBS Cutoff Ranks at Government Colleges Tell Aspirants

If you registered for Chhattisgarh's state NEET UG counselling this year, the Round 1 opening and closing rank list released by the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) is the single most useful document you can check right now. It tells you, college by college and category by category, exactly which rank got a seat and which rank missed one. Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Medical College in Raipur turned out to be the hardest government college to get into this round, with its Unreserved seat closing at State Rank 64 and a NEET score of 583. For every aspirant still waiting on a seat, or wondering whether to hold out for Round 2, these numbers are the starting point for a realistic decision.

What DME Chhattisgarh has actually released

The list published on the official counselling portal is an Opening Rank–Closing Rank (OR-CR) document. For every government and private medical college in the state, it shows the state rank and NEET score of the first candidate allotted a seat (opening) and the last candidate allotted a seat (closing), separately for each quota and reservation category.

This is not the same as a 'predicted cutoff' — it is the actual result of Round 1 seat allotment, based on how many candidates with which ranks chose and were allotted each college. It will shift again after Round 2 and any mop-up round, usually moving to higher rank numbers as more seats get filled by lower-ranked candidates.

Round 1 closing ranks at government medical colleges (Unreserved category)

The table below lists the Unreserved (UR) quota opening and closing state ranks and NEET scores for the government medical colleges named in the official list. Figures for other categories (ST, OBC, SC) were released separately and will differ from these numbers.

Why Pt. JN Memorial Medical College, Raipur stayed at the top

Being the oldest and best-established government medical college in the state capital, Pt. JN Memorial Medical College traditionally draws the highest number of first-preference choices from top-ranked candidates. A closing rank of 64 in the UR category, against an opening rank of just 4, shows that the very best-ranked NEET candidates in Chhattisgarh's counselling pool overwhelmingly chose this college first, filling its UR seats almost entirely with candidates scoring near or above 583.

CIMS Bilaspur followed as the second most competitive government college, with its UR seats closing around Rank 139. Colleges further down the list — such as Kanker, Korba and Mahasamund — closed at higher rank numbers, meaning they remained open to candidates with comparatively lower state ranks.

Reservation categories change the picture for most candidates

Chhattisgarh's state quota reserves 32% of seats for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates, 14% for Other Backward Classes (OBC), and 12% for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates. Because these categories have their own separate cutoff ranks, a candidate's real chance of a seat depends on checking the rank list for their own applicable category, not just the Unreserved figures reported widely.

In practice, this means two candidates with the same NEET score can have very different outcomes in the same college, simply because one is applying under a reserved category with a different, often more accessible, cutoff rank.

Private colleges: two different cutoffs to track

For private medical colleges in the state, the counselling authority has issued separate cutoff figures for the government quota (seats filled through the same centralised state counselling, at government-fee levels) and the management quota (seats filled at the institution's own, typically higher, fee structure). Aspirants comparing a private college seat against a government college seat should be clear about which quota's rank list they are reading, since the two can differ significantly for the same college.

What this means if you are still waiting for a seat

If your state rank was close to but above a college's Round 1 closing rank, do not assume you are out of the running. Closing ranks in Round 2 typically move higher as some allotted candidates upgrade, withdraw, or fail to report, freeing up seats for candidates further down the merit list.

Candidates should also weigh a confirmed private-college seat at government-quota fees against the possibility of a better government college seat in Round 2 — remembering that switching rounds carries its own risk of losing the current allotment if the choice-filling and reporting rules are not followed correctly.

• Recheck your category-specific (not just UR) opening and closing ranks before deciding.
• Confirm reporting deadlines for any seat you have already been allotted before assuming you can wait for Round 2.
• Track whether the seat you are eyeing is under government quota or management quota if it is a private college.

Frequently asked questions

Aspirants still in Chhattisgarh's counselling process should pull up their own category's opening and closing rank figures on cgdme.in rather than relying on the headline Unreserved numbers, and keep an eye on the Round 2 schedule before making a final call on any seat currently offered. MedAdmit will continue tracking subsequent rounds as the state releases updated cutoffs.