Should Union Budget be presented before

elections?
Government is set to present Union Budget on February 1,
just three days before Punjab and Goa go for assembly polls
and 10 days before the first phase of polling in Uttar
Pradesh. Opposition and other major political parties are
against this and want to delay the budget until elections are
over. They are of the view that this will bend the voting in
favour of the ruling party.

Shiv Sena also came out in support of the opposition and

urged their MPs to meet President Pranab Mukhejee and ask
him to postpone the budget announcement in order to keep
the voting fair. Will the government give in to this pressure
or should Election Commission stay firm on the date for
budget presentation?

Yes

1. A mere coincidence: Opposition and other parties are

crying foul, claiming that the government knew the date of
polls and accordingly decided to advance the budget. This
rumor has been rubbished by representatives of EC. No
communication was made between the government agents
and EC members regarding the date of polls. It is only a
coincidence that the polls are held after the presentation of
budget.
2. People are looking forward to it: Yes, people are looking
forward to being lured away with the Union Budget.
Government is also at pressure in the present situation
since one wrong move and people will lose faith in the
government. We are only considering what happens if people
are pleased which will in fact be a better situation. The
government, on the other hand, must be under the pressure
of what if people are left unpleased with the budget.

3. A good time to judge: Opposition, critics, leftists,

everyone who thinks people follow Modi blindly should be
glad for this reality check. People are not easily fooled these
days. If they are being polarized, the fact is that they know
they are and still choose to stick to one side.
Demonetization and budget have got people hoping and
praying for normalization.

4. Advantage: The decision to advance the presentation of

the budget and its passage came in the light of ensuring that
spending starts from beginning of the financial year. The
budget is generally presented on the last working day of
February which often means that the approval of the budget
spills over to the next financial year, in the process delaying
the start of new programs. The farming sectors misses on
the implementation of schemes that are meant for the
monsoon session.

No

1. Luring voters: The government will make attractive

announcements in the budget which will directly be a vote
appeal for the coming elections. People are sure to be
impressed if the ruling party wants to impress them with a
few extra expenses here and there. This will indeed be
unfair to the other parties campaigning hard for the
upcoming polls.

2. Why advance the dates? Even though EC denies any

communication with the government before or after the
announcement of dates of elections, it is clear that
advancing the budget date has something to do with
favoring the government agendas. Since polls can’t be held
earlier, EC can still order the government to postpone the
date of budget announcement.

3. Taking example: A very similar incident happened years

ago and at that it should be noted that the Union Budget
was presented in the middle of March, as opposed to March
1 which is the conventional date since at that time just like
this situation elections were held in various states. If dates
could be pushed back then, so can it be done now.

4. Mini-budget: On the eve of New Year, PM Modi announced

a series of sops for farmers, women and small businessmen.
Those should have normally been a part of the budget
announcement and yet it was done earlier to appease
people since perhaps the government was expecting a date
postpone for the Union Budget at the time of elections.

5. Model code of conduct: Going by model code of conduct,

it is clearly mentioned that no specific sops or schemes
could be proposed in states where elections are being held.
Presenting budget right before elections will be a direct
violation of the model code of conduct and hence Union
Budget should be postponed.

Election commission is yet to decide upon this matter and

hence nothing could be predicted as the government is bent
on not postponing while the representatives of other major
political parties, including Shiv Sena, are crying foul over
this matter.