There are 7,000 seats on offer for 35,000 aspirants across 12 state-run and private engineering colleges under Jharkhand Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (JCECEB), but one preferred destination - BIT-Sindri.

The admission process in state-run engineering colleges will start from Wednesday with a 10-day counselling session for 35,000 who cleared this year's JCECEB entrance test .

"Counselling for around 7,000 seats will be held from July 1 to 10. Around 35,000 students have been called based on the combined merit list," Om Prakash Kumar, administrative official of JCECEB told The Telegraph on Sunday.

The institutions are BIT-Sindri in Dhanbad, government colleges at Chaibasa, Ramgarh and Dumka run and managed by Techno India group, the one run by Vinoba Bhave University in Hazaribagh, RVS College of Engineering & Technology, Jamshedpur, Cambridge Institute of Technology (CIT) in Tatisilwai, Ramtahal Choudhary Institute of Technology in Ormanjhi, Guru Govind Singh Engineering College in Bokaro, Ram Govind Institute of Technology in Koderma, and DAV Groups' engineering college in Daltonganj, among others.

Kumar added Nilai Educational Trust-run engineering college in Thakurgaon on the outskirts of Ranchi had been excluded this time from the list as they did not have an affiliation from All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).

Techno India group was given the management of three government engineering colleges in the last session.

But, top-ranked students try for BIT- Sindri, which has 680 seats.

JCECEB sources said seats of BIT-Sindri get filled up on the first or second day of counselling itself.

The JCECEB authorities, however, apprehend that many seats of lesser-known private or state-run engineering colleges would remain vacant like in the previous years as students opt for other destinations outside the state.

Many students prefer shelling out hefty amounts for private colleges in Karnataka, for instance.