Bhubaneswar: The higher education department will conduct another round of admissions to fill up vacancies in Plus Two courses in August after one lakh seats were left vacant across the state.

Candidates can apply to colleges of their choice thro-ugh the Common Application Form for admission into Plus Two courses from August 1 to 7. The merit list will be published on August 10 and admission held from August 11 to 14.

Students who cleared the high school supplementary examinations or similar examinations managed by other boards or those who had failed to apply earlier can also take part in the admission process.

Sources said 1,08,571 (1.08 lakh) of 4,24,739 (4.24 lakh) Plus Two seats are lying vacant across the state.

New applicants will need to register on the website by using their mobile number and email address, while those who registered earlier but did not take admission will have to use their login ids to apply for fresh admissions.

"Applicants will be intimated about their ranks in the merit list and reporting time through SMS in their Student Academic Management System (Sams) login id and on college notice boards," said higher education minister Ananta Das.

"In most colleges, there are vacancies ranging from 10 to 50. While seats in most popular colleges have been filled up, the average ones are struggling," he said. Some 6.8 lakh students took their matriculation examination that concluded on March 8 this year. The examination was surrounded by controversies with claims of questions papers of all subjects being circulated on social media after the exam began on February 23. However, the school and mass education minister had refuted the allegations and called it an intentional attempt to disrupt the examination process.