How to Accept or Reject an Allotted Seat in JEE Counselling 2026?

Thinking about how to accept or reject an allotted seat in JEE Counselling? Well, you are not alone. Many candidates ask this question to avoid cancellation of their allotted seats. The candidate should complete all steps of Online Reporting to accept the seat. These steps involve seat acceptance and selecting one of the options, i.e. ‘Freeze’, ‘Slide’, or ‘Float’. It is mandatory to choose one of these options to accept the allotted seat. This will let them continue in the JoSAA process. If the allocated seat is the aspirant’s first choice, only the ‘Freeze’ option is available. If it’s not the first choice and the applicant wants to be considered for higher choices, they should select ‘Float’ or ‘Slide’. Read ahead to know how to accept or reject an allotted seat in JEE Counselling 2026.

How to Accept or Reject an Allotted Seat in JEE Counselling 2026?

An aspirant who has been allotted a seat should download the Initial Seat Allotment Intimation Slip. It will contain information about the Seat Allotment and the steps to be completed for seat confirmation. You can find the step-by-step guide below for reference purposes:

Step 1: Accept the Seat

Applicants need to accept the seat allotted and choose any one of the options ‘Freeze’, ‘Slide’ or ‘Float’ for the choice of academic program for the next round(s), if any, of joint seat allocation.

Step 2: Upload the documents

Applicants should upload all the required documents on the JoSAA portal if the required documents were not uploaded during JoSAA registration.

Step 3: Pay the Seat Acceptance Fee

Applicants should pay the seat acceptance fee to proceed with the JoSAA process till the end to secure a seat in IITs or NIT+ System. The documents uploaded will not be verified unless the applicant makes the payment of the seat acceptance fee. The seat acceptance fee is Rs. 15,000 for candidates for SC, ST, GEN-PwD, GEN-EWS-PwD, OBC-NCL-PwD, SC-PwD or ST-PwD category and Rs. 30,000 for all other candidates (the fee includes Rs. 5,000 as JoSAA processing charges). The seat acceptance fee will be adjusted against the admission fee, excluding JoSAA processing charges of Rs. 5000. The seat acceptance fee can be paid using Debit card /UPI /Credit card /Net Banking /E-Challan/CSC.

Step 4: Respond to queries (if any) 

If the document verification officer raises any queries during the DV round, the applicants must respond online. Candidates need to respond through the candidate portal within the given time. Failing to do so will result in the cancellation of the allotted seat, and they will not be able to appear in the further rounds, if any. 

Note: You need to accept the seat and select an option of Float/Slide if you want to be considered for a seat of higher preference in any Institute/within the allotted Institute in the next rounds (other than the last round). Failing to complete any of the three steps of online reporting for seat acceptance, your allotted seat will stand cancelled. It means that you will not be able to appear in the seat allocation process. 

What do the ‘Freeze’, ‘Float’, and ‘Slide’ options in JEE Counselling mean?

Many students are often confused about what the ‘Freeze’, ‘Float’, and ‘Slide’ options actually mean during JEE counselling. The answer is quite straightforward. At the time of accepting the seat online, a candidate has to select one of these options for the choice of academic course for the next round(s), if any, of joint seat allocation. It is compulsory to accept the allocated seat by choosing any one of these options to proceed further in the JoSAA process. Take a look at the complete details of these three options:

Freeze: Selecting the option “Freeze” means that the aspirant accepts the offered seat. And further indicates that they are satisfied with the allotted academic program and do not wish to take part in further rounds of seat allocation while retaining the same seat. Such applicants will not be considered in the next rounds of JoSAA 2026 (if any). Their chosen seat shall remain allotted to them and will be provisionally confirmed after they have completed all the steps.

Float: Selecting the “Float” option implies that the applicant accepts the offered seat. And further signifies that if admission to an academic course of higher preference in any Institute is offered in the next rounds of seat allocation, candidates will accept it. Otherwise, they will continue with the currently accepted academic course. Such applicants will be considered in the further rounds of JoSAA 2026 (if any).

Slide: Selecting the option “Slide” means that the applicant accepts the offered seat. And further signifies that, if admission to an academic course of higher preference is offered within the same Institute in the next rounds of seat allocation, candidates will accept it. Such applicants will be considered in the remaining rounds of JoSAA 2026 (if any).

Important Pointers:

• Slide and float options will be available to only those applicants who are not offered admission to their first choice in their choice-list.
• Slide and float options will not be available in the last round of JoSAA 2026.
• An applicant can switch from float to slide/freeze and slide to freeze in the online portal during all rounds of Seat Allocation except the last round.

Can a Candidate Go Back to the Seat Allotted in a Previous Round of JEE Counselling?

No. Once candidates are allotted a seat of higher preference based on your float/slide option, their accepted seat from the earlier round will be automatically cancelled, and they cannot get the previously allotted seat. 

How to Accept an Allotted Seat in JEE Counselling?

Here is the detailed guide on how to accept the seat provisionally allotted during the JoSAA counselling:

Step 1: Select any one of the options: ‘freeze’, ‘float’, or ‘slide’

Step 2: Upload the documents (if not done already through document pre-upload)

Step 3: Pay the seat acceptance fee (if not paid already through the pre-payment option)

How to Reject a Seat in JoSAA counselling?

Applicants who want to reject the allotted seat can do so by not finishing the steps for Online Reporting, including not paying the seat acceptance fee. Those who will reject the allotted seat cannot appear anymore in the Joint Seat Allocation. If you reject a seat by not completing all the steps of Online Reporting, the allotted seat will be cancelled, and you will be excluded from the JoSAA process. This implies that the applicant will not be considered for the next stages (if any) of seat allocation. 

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