Bhubaneswar, Aug. 8: The vacant seat scenario in engineering admissions went from bad to worse this year with at least five engineering colleges in the state failing to go beyond single digit figures.

Documents available with The Telegraph after the final- round allotment of seats in engineering reveals a precarious state. Nearly two-third of the 45,000-odd engineering seats remained vacant this year. Only 17,242 students were allotted seats in the final allotment today leaving around 28,000 seats vacant.

Although 21,745 candidates had locked choices for the engineering branches under the first phase of counselling, many subsequently withdrew to take admissions into other professional courses. As many as 63,634 candidates had appeared for the entrance. The seats falling vacant have gone up by 3,000. Last year, about 22,000 seats remained vacant.

Even reputed colleges such as C.V. Raman College of Engineering, Bhubaneswar, Gandhi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Gunupur, and Odisha Engineering College (OEC) have not been able to fill up all their seats. Of 724 seats, 576 have been filled up at OEC. At Gandhi institute, of 1,228 seats just 868 have been filled and C.V. Raman college has managed to fill 743 of 945 seats.