Opposition at EC’s door, wants Budget deferred

A united Opposition met the Election Commission here on Thursday demanding that it urge the Centre to present the Budget only after March 8, after the final phase of Assembly polls. The BJP dubbed the move “anti poor” and said the Budget process should not be meddled with.

Leaders of the Congress, JD(U), BSP, SP, DMK and RJD met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and reiterated their demand, which they had raised on Wednesday after the poll panel had declared the dates of elections to five States.

Zaidi had said on Wednesday said that the Commission would take a look at the representations of the parties.

The Congress had also said that in 2012, the then Opposition leader Arun Jaitley had been critical of the Centre presenting the Budget before the Assembly polls. “When the Opposition had objected in 2012 during the Assembly polls to these five states, Congress had accepted their stand and postponed presentation of the Union Budget from February 28 to March 16. We want that there should be no presentation of the Budget till the elections are over,” Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters after the meeting.

Deputy leader of the Congress in the Upper House Anand Sharma said that no government in the past had used the Budget to influence voters in the midst of a poll process.

“Electoral laws make it clear that the ruling party should have no advantage during elections and that both the Opposition and the ruling side should be on an equal footing. The Budget on February 1 will tilt the balance in favour of BJP as it would use the exercise to influence voters by doling out sops,” Azad said.

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien, BSP Treasurer Ambeth Rajan, SP leader Naresh Agarwal, DMK’s Tiruchi Siva and JD(U)’s Secretary General KC Tyagi were also part of the delegation. The Left parties had also demanded that the Budget should be deferred.

The Commission is likely to hear the Centre and legal experts on the matter.

The BJP, however, rejected the demand to defer the Budget. “The Opposition parties are rattled as their defeat in five State polls is a certainty and that the BJP will emerge victorious. These parties have had a history of negative politics and by opposing the presentation of the Budget on scheduled time, they have again shown that they are anti-poor and anti-farmer. The Modi government has started a number of pro-poor and pro-farmer measures and they need budgetary support on time. We will certainly keep the precedents and past practices in mind,” BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma said.