EC seeks details on delayed Budget in 2012

In another letter to the Cabinet Secretariat written on Thursday, the Commission has asked for a response by Friday morning, sources said. 

The poll watchdog has also sought details on the process involved in preparing and presenting the Union Budget. When the opposition had objected in 2012 during the Assembly polls to Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur, Goa, the then UPA government had accepted their stand and postponed presentation of the Union Budget from February 28 to March 16. 

On January 10, the government had replied to the Commission on the opposition complaint against presenting the Budget before Assembly elections, defending its decision to advance the budget session for the purpose. 

The Commission had asked the Cabinet Secretariat to respond to a representation by opposition parties urging the poll panel to make the government postpone the budget till assembly polls are over. 

The government is learnt to have described the Budget as an annual constitutional exercise covering the entire country and not just a few states, an apparent rebuttal of the opposition charge that the budget will be used to woo voters in the pollbound states. 

It had also said that the advancing of budget presentation was necessary as it would ensure that all budgetary provisions are allocated to different sectors from April 1, the beginning of the new fiscal. The budget is usually presented around last week of February and, as a result, the approval of the budget spills over to the next financial year, delaying the start of new programmes.