Unfazed by the objections raised by opposition parties, the government will present the Union Budget 2017-18 on February 1 but will refrain from making any specific announcements pertaining to five poll-bound states.
The government has vehemently defended its move before the Election Commission to advance the Budget presentation by a month saying it had made clear its intention on this way back in September 2016 so as to help begin the investment cycle right from the first day of the new fiscal, April 1.
The Cabinet Secretariat last week wrote to the Election Commission which had asked it to respond to a representation by opposition parties urging the poll panel to make the government postpone the budget till assembly polls are over.
In the reply, the government is learnt to have described the Union 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 poll-bound states.
"Budget presentation on February 1 is a done deal, we will not make any specific announcement for poll-bound states," a top source said.
The budget is usually presented around the 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.
Opposition parties including Congress and TMC had approached the Election Commission against presentation of the Budget just hours before the first of the five states goes to poll on February 4.
Punjab and Goa will go to polls together on February 4, Uttarakhand on February 15, Manipur in two phases on March 4 and 8, and Uttar Pradesh in seven phases from February 11 to March 8. Counting for all states will be held on March 11.
But the government stoutly defended the move. The source said that in view of the model code of conduct, the budget will not make any announces related to poll-bound states of Punjab, UP, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
According to the scheme drawn, the first part of the Budget Session of Parliament will start on January 31 with President Pranab Mukherjee's address and tabling of the Economic Survey, which sets the scene for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's fourth annual budget.
The Budget will be presented the next day. The Cabinet had in September last year decided to scrap nearly century-long practice of having a separate railway budget and instead merged it with the general budget.
It had also decided to scrap a distinction between plan and non-plan expenditures.
