The government is most likely to hold discussions with the Election Commission, before announcing a new date to present the union budget 2017-18, in order to avoid a clash of dates as five states are headed for polls. A top official said, "When we traditionally had the union budget presentation on the last day of February, the Election Commission always knew of it and would weave around poll schedule accordingly. Now that the government has decided to advance the budget, some kind of consultations need to happen with Election Commission."
The elections, to be held in February in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur, are likely to be held in phases and the government does not want any of them to clash with the budgetary exercise. Just last week, the Cabinet agreed to advance the presentation of the budget to complete the legislative exercise before the beginning of the new financial year on April 1. With the new date yet to be decided, the finance ministry has suggested that the budget presentation be fixed for February 1 and the entire exercises be completed by March 24.
It wanted to budget session to begin before January 25 and go in for a three week break between February 10 and 15 before reconvening between March 10 and 15, to complete the legislative exercise. With the Punjab, Manipur, and Goa assemblies due to end on March 18, 2017, and Uttarakhand's till March 26, the government wants to get a fix on the likely dates after speaking to the EC.
The budget approval process happens in two parts presently, extending to the second or third week of May, hampering early implementation of schemes and spending programmes.
