Sources said the state government has send a written communiqué to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha that the budget session should be held between February 27 to March 28. However, since the code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections is likely to come into force in the last week of February, the budget session might be cut short and the state government might only present the vote on account and supplementary demands and present the full budget in June.

In 2007, too, the same procedure was adopted when the SAD-BJP government had just come into power after the Assembly elections and the budget was presented later. “A final decision is yet to be taken,” said an official.

Sources said in the recent meeting with the Planning Commission, the state government has demanded an annual plan size of Rs 8,450 crore for the coming financial year after the initial Rs 7,500 crore.