Manmohan Singh at a meeting in Delhi on Tuesday. (AFP)

New Delhi, Oct. 7: The Congress is considering advancing the Lok Sabha elections to February 2009 from April, regardless of the outcome of the next round of Assembly polls.

Sources said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had wanted the general and state elections held simultaneously but UPA allies had opposed the proposal.

So as a “half-way” measure, the Congress thought of February although the government’s tenure ends on May 22.

Sources said the Centre could, therefore, have the supplementary demand for grants passed in Parliament’s autumn/winter session starting October 17. This would ensure that expenses were taken care of till February and the next government could take a vote-on-account or pass a general budget.

The demand for grants is the only legislative business expected to be transacted in Parliament. The political establishment believes that with the battle lines firmly etched and the government particularly “vulnerable” after terror strikes and sectarian strife, the House would be subjected to repeated adjournments.

The sources admitted that the government did not have the “stomach and the nerve” to sit through another session of Parliament, which would be imperative to take a vote-on-account if elections are held in April.

The rationale for bringing forward the polls was to “arrest” the apparent downturn in the Congress’s fortunes and ensure that the UPA allies did not break away and chart an independent course, the sources said.

Also, with inflation gradually going downward, winter was an opportune time to have an election before the trend changed with the onset of summer, the sources added.

The Election Commission is expected to announce the poll schedule for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Mizoram by mid-October and take a call on Jammu and Kashmir after a recce this week.

The sources said the Prime Minister wanted the Jammu and Kashmir polls on time because he believed the installation of a popularly elected government even in “turbulent” conditions would send the “correct” message, domestically and internationally.