The government will formally communicate to the Election Commission that it will present the union budget as proposed on February 1, rejecting demands by opposition parties to delay this in view of state elections.

Voting in five state elections will begin on February 4, days after the budget is presented, with ballots being counted on March 11.

“A letter will be sent in two days,” said a senior government official. The Election Commission had written to the government following representations from many political parties that wanted the budget presentation postponed because of the assembly elections. The commission had given the government time till January 10 to respond. The letter will be sent before that, putting forth the government's position that the budget will be announced as proposed on February 1.

The government decided to advance the presentation of the budget and its passage to ensure spending starts from beginning of the financial year.

The budget is usually presented on the last working day of February. As a result, the approval of the budget spills over to the next financial year, delaying the start of new programmes. In the farm sector, schemes usually miss the monsoon season before actual implementation begins.

After the EC announced the poll schedule for five states, including the key state of UP, opposition parties said this gave a clear advantage to the ruling party, allowing it to hand out sops despite the model code of conduct being in force.

The model code of conduct does not provide for delaying or postponing presentation of the budget. It only says that no specific sops or schemes be proposed in states where elections are being held.

Government officials said that as long as there were no schemes targeted at such states, there should not be any issue with the budget.