ID :
220704
Mon, 12/26/2011 - 10:59
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India: Budget as scheduled not a problem: CEC, Pranab shares the view

New Delhi, Dec 25 (PTI) The Indian Government Budget for fiscal 2012-13 may be presented as usually scheduled on the last day of February next with both Government and Election Commission not forseeing any problem due to Assembly polls in five states which would not have been completed by that date in Goa. Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi told PTI on Sunday, "Ideally, I should not comment on it - on what the government does.... As it is we have a lot of problems... seven to eight considerations like climate, exams, law and order and festivals were taken into account. "Except in Goa, we will be completing the elections in all four states by February 28, leaving February 29 for the budget. I have nothing to do with it. Our feeling was that if the budget does not have anything special for Goa, then there is no problem (about presentation of budget)." However, he added that it is not as if budget has not been postponed. "There has been a precedent once in the past of the budget having been shifted to mid-March. But, if there are no announcements specific for Goa, there is no problem. It is for the government (to decide)," he said. Quraishi was responding to a question on whether presentation of the Indian government budget for fiscal 2012-13 would need to be deferred in view of elections whose schedule was announced yesterday. The Assembly elections for Goa are scheduled to be held on March 3. India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also said he did not think there was any problem in presenting the Budget for 2012-13 on schedule in the wake of the announcement of Assembly elections in five states. "The Union Budget is usually presented on the last date of February. Next year being a leap year, the budget is likely to be placed on February 29. The elections to all the (five) state Assemblies (going to polls), except in Goa, will be over by that date. So, I don't think there will be any problem," he told PTI in Kolkata on Sunday. Mukherjee, however, said the date for the presentation of the budget will be fixed after discussions at various levels. Under the Indian electoral practice, once elections are announced for either the central Parliament or a state legislative assembly a code of conduct has to be adhered to by both the central government and the government of the state going to polls preventing these governments from announcing any sops or policy measures which might induce the electorate to vote in a particular manner. The assembly elections were announced by India's Election Commission for the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa on Saturday with the polling completed in four of the five states by February 28, leaving aside Goa. Hence the clarification by the Chief Election Commissioner to the presentation of the central budget on the last day of February next year with a 'no Goa special' announcement. Being a leap year, February next year will have 29 days. PTI

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