Former chief election commissioner SY Quraishi has called on the central government to table a vote on account in the coming weeks and present the rest of the union budget proposals later. He said this would help avoid a conflict with the Election Commission's model code of conduct which came into effect Wednesday. Quraishi headed the election commission in 2012, when the Union Budget was rescheduled from February 29 to March 16 due to assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur.
A vote on account is a special provision by which the government obtains the vote of parliament for a sum sufficient to incur expenditure on various items for a part of the year. This enables the government to fund its expenses for a short period of time or until a full budget is passed.
In an interview with BloombergQuint over the phone, Quraishi proposed that the government split the budget agenda, and hold back on announcing populist measures till all votes have been cast.
You were the Chief Election Commissioner in 2012. Then too, the budget date clashed with the elections. Recount to us how this was resolved.
From what I recollect, we did not write to the government on this. We debated among ourselves about what to do, because February 28 is when conventionally the budget is presented. We did not want to interfere with it. At the same time, it was our concern that if the election schedule spills past February 28, there can be questions asked about the violation of the model code of conduct. Invariably, in the budget there are some announcements that can be taken as relief or concession to voters. That was our dilemma. We had to hold the elections in January and February and make sure that we completed it by the end of February for two reasons; first being the budget, and second that we don't conduct elections in March due to examinations.
So, it came to us as a pleasant surprise when the Government of India itself informed us that they will be presenting the budget later – on March 16, 2012. This gave us a flexibility of 6-7 days, which helped us spill over the end of the elections to March 6 or 7.
With the 2012 situation recurring now, do you believe that this is a step better taken by the government on its own, and not initiated by the Election Commission?
I think the government is quite conscious of propriety and would not want to violate the model code of conduct. If there are any announcements in the budget that are questioned as concessions to the voters, seduce or allure the voters, there would be a controversy, which is avoidable. Unless the government decides that in the budget it will not go for anything populist; if they come up with those announcements later in the course of the budget discussion and debate.
In any case, I feel that most of the announcements or concessions to the voters have anyway been announced by the prime minister in his two speeches – the address to the nation and the public address in Lucknow. Obviously, those things will have to be included in the budget, and the government's stand will be that these are nothing new, that these are announcements that are already made. They can take shelter behind that for sure. But if there are any new concessions to any set of people, which could create a favourable atmosphere for them electorally, that is where the problem arises. The government can always defer populist measures for a little later. After all, the budget speech will be followed by a discussion and a debate. Usually, certain changes are made even after the debate, they can always do that.
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The government chose to move away from the traditional February 28 date to February 1 to kickstart expenditure right from the first day of the subsequent financial year. With the Chief Election Commissioner announcing a schedule that runs from February 4 to March 8, would that mean any postponement would be by at least six weeks?
As I said earlier, our limitation in 2012 was February 28 because of the budget. But now that the budget date is February 1, that does complicate things for the Election Commission. Now that this has happened, the ball is in the government's court – whether they would like to face the embarrassment of making populist announcements and getting flak from the opposition and the public. I think a better sense of propriety would be to let this be kind of a vote on account. It has happened so many times that a vote on account is presented for some reason or the other, and the regular budget follows a little later. Or as I said, the populist announcements can wait till the budget debate is completed, when the finance minister replies to the debate, and makes those changes. It is in the interest of the government's respect for the model code.
Have there been instances in the past where governments have chosen to proceed with full budget announcements at a time when the model code of conduct was in effect? Do you recall any such situations?
I spoke to a couple of people and their recollection was that union budgets have come in the middle of elections several times. Whether they stayed clear of the model code announcement and its violation or not, I don't remember. Let me tell you that the states that are going to the polls have their budget as well. To the states, we have been issuing advisories to stay clear of model code, that they go with a vote on account instead of a budget, and by-and-large states have been honouring that advisory.
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