Indian cabinet has decided to dissolve the lower house of the parliament by February 6 to make way for early elections, television channels reported on Tuesday.
They said that the cabinet had passed a one-line resolution for the dissolution and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was to meet President A.P.J. Abul Kalam during the evening to convey the decision.
Earlier this month, the Indian government had announced an interim budget would be presented to the parliament on February 3 in a clear indication of early elections around April. The scheduled date for elections was October.
Normally, an interim budget is passed only to take care of the government expenditures until polls are held and does not contain the long-term economic policies announced during the budget sessions every February.
However, the government had previously not announced the dissolution of the lower house of the parliament, which paves the way for fresh general elections.
India's lower house is composed of 545 members who are elected directly by the people with a term of five years.
India's ruling BJP party is keen to cash in on a "feel good factor" stemming from economic growth of over 8 percent, peace moves with Pakistan and wins in state polls.
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