SC refuses to urgently hear plea to delay Union budget till after state polls

The Supreme Court refused on Friday to grant an urgent hearing on a plea seeking postponement of the Union budget presentation ahead of assembly polls in five states.

The Supreme Court refused on Friday to grant an urgent hearing on a plea seeking postponement of the Union budget presentation ahead of assembly polls in five states.

The petition seeking to delay the Union budget presentation till assembly polls in five states conclude in early March was submitted to the Supreme Court. (Sunil Saxena/HT File Photo)

“We will lay down the law whenever the petition comes up,” the court said.

The decision came a day after a clutch of opposition parties – including the Congress – appealed to the election commission to ask the Centre to postpone the budget presentation.

Read | Centre must delay Union budget till state polls are over: Oppn parties tell EC

The budget this year is slated to be presented in Parliament on February 1, just three days before polls commence in Punjab and Goa.

Opposition parties say the government may use the budget to announce a series of sops that might help the BJP in the elections, especially in Uttar Pradesh that votes in seven phases beginning February 11.