India: Budget to be presented after state assembly polls, FM

New Delhi, Jan 2 (PTI) The budget of the central Indian government will be presented after the completion of legislative assembly elections in five states, but the government has not yet decided on the final date of presentation, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Monday. "We have not yet decided the time (for the Budget), but naturally it will be after the elections," Mukherjee told reporters here. He was replying to a query on the likely date for presentation of the Indian government budget. The announcement of the Assembly election schedule in five states between January 30 and March 3 had raised the possibility of rescheduling of the date of presentation of the budget for fiscal 2012-13 this year. As per the schedule worked out by India's Election Commission, last polling will take place on March 3 in Goa. The Indian government budget is usually presented on the last day of February every year. In an interview to PTI a few days back India's Chief Election Commisssioner S Y Qureshi had said the government could go ahead with presentation of the budget on the last date of February if there were no Goa specific announcements to be made in the budget. Under Indian electoral practice, both the central government and the state governments are barred from announcing any sops or policy measures during the period an election is being held. Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa are the five states going to poll to elect their legislators. PTI