A “routine” yet firm internal directive from the National Cadet Corps (NCC) authorities has cast a shadow over the Nadia district administration’s plan to deploy school cadets for election duties in the June 19 Kaliganj Assembly by-election.
In an internal communication issued on Monday, the NCC’s 14 Bengal Battalion instructed schools not to engage cadets in any activities — on or outside campus — beyond officially sanctioned ones. The message, sent to institutions running NCC programmes, stressed strict compliance and required a minimum 20 days of prior approval for any such deployment.
The order comes days after the returning officer of the Kaliganj Assembly constituency directed local schools to provide details of NCC-enrolled students aged under 18 so that they could be volunteers collecting voters’ cellphones outside polling booths.
The Telegraph had on Thursday reported the returning officer’s June 1 letter, based on a 2024 Election Commission of India directive on NCC cadets, asking certain Kaliganj schools to submit details of their cadets, apparently without routing it through the NCC command structure.
The move triggered concern among educators and political watchers, many of whom questioned the ethics of involving underage students in a politically charged setting with unpredictable security dynamics.
While NCC authorities maintained that their directive was not in response to
this particular move, many school administrators suspect otherwise.
“This is a standing directive and no NCC cadet will be allowed to participate in any activity without due authorisation,” the order, a copy of which is with this newspaper, stated.
“It is reiterated that no institution is authorised to utilise any NCC cadet for any activity, program, or task, whether within the institution premises or outside, without obtaining prior written permission,” it added, warning institutional NCC officers of “appropriate action” for non-compliance.
Although officials of the NCC’s 14 Bengal Battalion declined to comment publicly, a senior officer admitted that misuse of cadets — such as deploying them as ceremonial guards — prompted the reiteration of protocol.
“We want permission to be sought at least 20 days prior to any event so that we can examine if the proposed utilisation is at all needed for students and if there is any potential security threat for the children,” the officer told this newspaper.
“We will check who the organiser is and whether the police and the administration will be present or not. Often, schools allow cadets to be used as guards at events. Schoolchildren can’t be deployed as guards, they are not the police or army trained to handle difficult situations. If any harm occurs to them, who is responsible?” he added.
A schoolteacher who is also an associate NCC officer, said: “During polls, the EC has supreme power. Still, we will go by the NCC directive.”
The administration is mum on the NCC order. District magistrate S. Arun Prasad’s phone was unreachable for comments. Kaliganj returning officer Faiyaz Ahmed refused to speak on the issue.