The Centre on Wednesday told the Election Commission that presenting the Budget on February 1 as planned will not violate the model code of conduct as it is only a legislative exercise.
The poll panel has not yet taken a decision on the matter.
Earlier this month, the Commission had declared elections to the Assemblies of five States, following which the MCC came into immediate effect.
However, if the EC follows precedent the government may well have to rework its plans.
After general elections were announced in March 2009, the poll panel had been flooded with requests from States asking for the Union Budget to be deferred; the Commission had then permitted only a vote-on-account instead of a full Budget. The vote-on-account is for three-four months in cases where a general election is imminent or has been announced.
“Whether the EC will continue with the same practice or look at it with a renewed perspective will be known shortly,” an official told BusinessLine .
Opposition had cited 2012
Meanwhile, Opposition parties expect the EC to share with them a copy of the Centre’s stand on the matter. Citing the 2012 decision by the then government, the Opposition had argued before the Commission that the Budget should be deferred.
The EC had sent its query to the government based on representations made by the Opposition, which has been demanding deferment of the Budget as they feared it might influence voters.
On January 4, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that it was essential to present the Budget on time to ensure that the expenditure flow is maintained from the start of the fiscal.
“These are the same parties that say there has been no positive effect of demonetisation. So, why are they worried about the date of the Budget,” he said, adding that even in 2014, the Budget was presented before the general elections.