Election Commission Puts Conditions For Government To Present Budget On February 1

The Election Commission permitted the government to present the Union Budget on February 1 on two conditions: First the Finance Minister should not announce new schemes specific to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur; and, Second the government should not, in the Budget speech, highlight its achievements in the five poll-bound states. The poll panel also advised the state governments in the five states to follow norms and not present a full-fledged state Budget but take a vote-on-account instead. Earlier on Monday, the Supreme Court dismissed a PIL that wanted to restrain the Centre from making budget declarations before the assembly polls in the five states. The debate over the Budget calendar snowballed into a full-blown controversy after a delegation of Opposition parties met all three Election Commissioners in the first week of January.