Budget 2017: Lok Sabha Speaker convenes all-party meeting on Jan 30

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has convened an all-party meeting on January 30 evening as Parliament prepares to meet for Budget Session, sources said on Monday.

President Pranab Mukherjee will address a joint sitting of the two Houses in the Central Hall of Parliament. The central government will table its Budget and Economic Survey on the same day.

The first half of the session will be a short affair and will end on February 9 as it is being held in the middle of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa.

A shorter first part will help parties focus on electioneering. The second half of the session will begin on March 8 and will conclude on April 12.

Sixteen opposition parties had this month moved the Election Commission urging it to ask the government to present the Union Budget after the elections are over on March 8 so that it is not used as a tool by the NDA to influence voters in the five states.

While the Supreme Court on Monday refused to give any directions to the government in this regard, the Commission's decision is long awaited.