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Ahead of polls, Yogi govt begins preparing for interim budget

Besides, the state government may consider presenting a second supplementary budget for 2026-27 in the same session if funds are needed for populist announcements or important projects ahead of the polls.

Published on: Sep 22, 2026, 08:02:30 IST
By , Lucknow
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Ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the Yogi Adityanath government has begun preparations to present a vote-on-account or an interim budget for the first three to four months of 2027-28 in the state legislature’s winter session likely to be convened in December this year.

The state government has already presented UP’s largest-ever annual budget of  ₹9.12 lakh crore in February and the first supplementary budget for around  ₹59,000 crore in August this year. (FILE PHOTO)
The state government has already presented UP’s largest-ever annual budget of ₹9.12 lakh crore in February and the first supplementary budget for around ₹59,000 crore in August this year. (FILE PHOTO)

Besides, the state government may consider presenting a second supplementary budget for 2026-27 in the same session if funds are needed for populist announcements or important projects ahead of the polls. The state government has already presented UP’s largest-ever annual budget of 9.12 lakh crore in February and the first supplementary budget for around 59,000 crore in August this year.

In a government order dated September 8, 2026, the state finance department has asked various departments to send their proposals for the state’s annual budget for 2027-28 by November 30.

The inputs sought will be used for preparing the vote-on- account, those aware of the development said, adding that the new government to be installed following the 2027 UP assembly elections will begin a fresh exercise again for the full-fledged 2027-28 budget later in 2027.

“We are preparing to present the vote-on-account for the first three to four months of 2027-2028. This will provide for the expenditure needed to pay salaries and the ongoing projects. It will not have a schedule of new demands. The proposals sought from the departments by November 30, 2026 will come in handy for preparation of the vote-on-account,” said Deepak Kumar, additional chief secretary (finance).

On the question of the second supplementary budget for 2026-27, those aware of the development said the state finance department is yet to get any indications on this.

This will not be for the first time that the state government will present a supplementary budget ahead of the polls if it so decides.

Ahead of the 2022 and 2017 assembly elections, both the Yogi Adityanath government and the Akhilesh Yadav government had presented supplementary budgets and an interim budget ahead of assembly polls in December 2021 and December 2016 respectively. Minister for finance Suresh Khanna was not available for comment on the issue.

The Yogi government had presented the second supplementary demands of grants for 8479.53 crore for 2021-22 to disburse largesse to labourers of the unorganised sector and carry out other works. It also presented a vote-on-account for the first four months of 2022-23. The Vidhan Sabha passed both the supplementary budget and the interim budget on December 17, 2021.

The Akhilesh Yadav government presented a second supplementary budget on December 21, 2016, demanding grants of 1683.11 crore for the CM’s dream projects in 2016-2017 and a vote on account for the first five months of 2017-18 to meet the government’s committed expenditure.

  • Umesh Raghuvanshi
    ABOUT THE AUTHOR
    Umesh Raghuvanshi

    Umesh Raghuvanshi is an award-winning journalist with nearly four decades of demonstrated experience in the profession. He is the author of Ayodhya: The Gods Are Liberated. He is skilled in storytelling and newswriting, and writes on politics, governance, legislature, finance, environment, and social issues. He is based in Lucknow, is well-travelled, and has covered several national and international events, as well as all assembly and parliament elections in Uttar Pradesh since 1984. He has been a visiting scholar at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley, USA, and a Metcalf Fellow at the Metcalf Institute of Marine and Environmental Reporting, University of Rhode Island, USA. He is a science graduate from DBS College, Dehradun, and holds an MA in Political Science from DAV (PG) College, Dehradun. He won the KC Kulish International Merit Award for excellence in journalism (2015) and received it in New Delhi in 2017. He also won a competition organised by the United Nations Environment Programme DTIE OzonAction Programme in 2009 that assessed coverage of the interlinkages between ozone and climate change. He was awarded in Beijing, China, in 2010. He started his career with a Dehradun-based English daily in the early 1980s and later worked with The Pioneer too.Read More