No schemes for poll-bound states in budget: EC

January 24, 2017 08:41

After the Supreme Court turned down a plea seeking to restrain the government from presenting Union Budget on February 1, the Election Commission also cleared the way for the government to stick to its plan but forbade it from announcing any schemes specific to the poll-bound states "which may have the effect of influencing the electors...in favour of the ruling party".

While a bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justices NV Ramana and DY Chandrachud said that there was nothing wrong if the Union Budget was presented as it might not amount to violation of the mode code of conduct, the EC in a letter sent to the Cabinet Secretary late on Monday evening opined that announcing state-specific schemes or highlighting government's achievements in respect of the five states in the budget speech would disturb the level-playing field.

"The commission hereby directs that in the interest of free and fair elections and in order to maintain level playing field during elections, no state-specific schemes shall be announced in the national budget which may have the effect of influencing the electors of the five poll-going states in favour of the ruling party. It may be ensured that in the Budget speech, the government's achievements in respect of the said five states will also not be highlighted in any manner," stated the EC.

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