NEW DELHI: A day after the Lok Sabha poll dates were announced, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have asked his ministerial colleagues at a cabinet meeting to be ready with a roadmap of development works for 100 days as part of a plan for the next five years.
Sources said the PM is determined to meet his target of making the country the world’s third-largest economy in the next five years. “In clear signs of emerging confidence in favourable poll results, the PM does not want to lose even a day after the government at the Centre is formed for a third term in implementing the 100-day roadmap,” said a source.
Modi chaired the Cabinet meeting on Sunday and enquired about the progress of development works. He also reportedly directed officials to keep up the tempo of team work on development works.
He discussed with the secretaries and other officials on how the agenda for the first 100 days and the next five years could be taken forward ahead without a halt. Sources said the roadmap for “Viksit Bharat” was a result of more than two years of intensive preparations and entailed a “whole-of-government” approach involving all ministries. Wide-ranging consultations with governments, academia, the civil society, and scientific organisations and mobilisation of youths for inputs would go into meeting the set targets.
“To date (before the announcement of the general election), as many as 2,700 meetings, workshops and seminars have been conducted at various levels and more than 20 lakh suggestions were received from the youth”, said a source.
Meanwhile, sources said the that government has reportedly initiated the process of notifying the dates of the 7-phase Lok Sabha elections by sending the Election Commission’s recommendation to President Droupadi Murmu.
The first notification on LS polls is expected on March 20 for the first phase of polls, which is due on April 19 for 102 LS seats. The nomination process begins for a particular phase with the issuance of the notification as per the rules.
Going by the book, the Cabinet recommended to the President to issue the notifications for the different phases after the EC sent the mandatory recommendation to the Union Law Ministry to notify the Lok Sabha election dates.
Citing rules, sources said: “Under Section 14 (2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the EC sends its recommendation to the government which requests the President to clear the notification of the poll dates. Based on the recommendation, the Law Ministry prepares a proposal for the Union Cabinet, which recommends to the President to approve the issuance of notifications for the different phases.”