Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati welcomed the decision of the Election Commission to restrict the Narendra Modi Government at the Centre not to announce any sops in the Union Budget on February 1 for the people of the five states going to the polls.
“We support the direction of the EC, which had restricted the Union Government not to announce anything which could be violation of the election model code of conduction in the Assembly elections in five states,” she said in a statement here on Tuesday. She, however, said it has to be seen how much the BJP is honest in following the direction of the EC.
The EC, while allowing the BJP Government to present Union Budget on February 1, has directed that no specific announcement in regard to the five poll-bound states should be made, adding that the Government should also not recount achievements with regard to these states in the Budget speech. A combined Opposition had petitioned the EC urging it to restrain the Centre from presenting the Union Budget on February 1, as announced. The Opposition had argued that the Budget proposals could influence voters.
In its letter, the Opposition leaders had suggested that the Government could present the Budget on March 9, a day after the voting is over. The Budget Session of Parliament was advanced this year, and the earlier practice of presenting the Union Budget on the last day of February has also been changed from this year. Mayawati too on January 4 had objected on the holding of Union Budget on February 1. UP is going for a seven-phase Assembly polls between February 11 and March 8 along with other four states of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa.