Panagariya backs simultaneous polls; Montek for keeping LS, state elections separate

New Delhi, Sep 24 (PTI) Economists offered divergent views to a parliamentary committee on the merits of simultaneous elections on Wednesday as Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya backed the idea, while former Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia was unimpressed and instead suggested that all assemblies go to the polls together but not with the Lok Sabha.

Another economist, Surjit Bhalla, supported the "one nation, one election" (ONOE) concept as a "positive force" for democracy but proposed that all state assembly elections be held together at around mid-term of the Lok Sabha, allowing for reduced frequency of polls and still ensuring accountability and checks on political parties, sources said.

Ahluwalia, the last deputy chairman of the Planning Commission before the Modi government shut it down in 2014 and brought Niti Aayog in its place, was unsupportive of the economic arguments in favour of simultaneous elections, the sources said, as he noted that the economy has done well in the last few decades.

An MP said the economist did not support the argument that frequent elections add to the fiscal deficit and their synchronisation will boost the growth rate. Fiscal deficit is "alien" to election synchronisation, Ahluwalia is learnt to have told the Joint Committee of Parliament headed by BJP MP P P Chaudhary.

He said assembly elections should be held separately from national polls, as this will allow larger issues, which dominate the agenda during the Lok Sabha campaign, not to have a bearing on states' elections where people are guided more by local and bread-and-butter themes, the sources added.

Ahluwalia, however, agreed to the contention that frequent imposition of the Model Code of Conduct, which is enforced during polls, adversely affects economic activities, and such guidelines should be reviewed.

Polls to all assemblies can be held together but should not be with the Lok Sabha elections, he said.

Favouring the ONOE proposal, Panagariya said repeated enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct interrupts policy-making, delays procurement and project execution, and shortens the effective reform window for governments, according to the sources.

In contrast, simultaneous polls held once in every five years offer a longer and clearer policy horizon for both state and central governments, lowering uncertainty and creating stability that encourages private capital formation, he added.

He cited academic studies to assert that frequent elections add to the subsidy, an apparent reference to populist measures taken around the polls, and government expenditure moves away from capital expenses to revenue expenses, an evidence of deterioration in the quality of expenditure.

Even the Finance Commission, a constitutional body tasked with submitting the report on devolution of funds to states, was itself impacted by the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the following state polls, resulting in delays in its consultation process, he added.

Panagariya noted that several state assemblies were dissolved in 1957 to conduct their polls simultaneously with that of the Lok Sabha, arguing that it is reasonable to assume that had the makers of the Constitution anticipated a continuous cycle of elections, they would have opted for a law similar to the 129th Constitutional Amendment Bill.

The committee is studying the bill for simultaneous elections backed by the ruling alliance and protested vehemently by the Opposition.

Bhalla said the current state of frequent elections was not envisioned in the Constitution, adding that staggered polls induce a financial and opportunity cost for migrant workers, the sources said.

It is the intangible and indirect cost of elections that is of concern, he said, adding that non-simultaneous polls are "expensive".

Synchronised polls will have a positive impact on the economy, he added. PTI KR/SKU KR RT RT