NEW DELHI, OCT 5 (PTI): Several renowned economists on Monday spoke in unison at a meeting of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on simultaneous elections and highlighted that fiscal allocation is focused on revenue expenditure rather than capital expenditure due to continuous and frequent elections.
The economists who conveyed their views to the Joint Committee on the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 were the government’s Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran; Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, S Mahendra Dev; and S Gurumurthy, who is a chartered accountant by profession and also writes on political and economic issues. Sources said the economists spoke in agreement, supporting the simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, assemblies and local body elections.
Nageswaran is believed to have highlighted that due to continuous and frequent elections, fiscal allocation is focused on revenue expenditure rather than capital expenditure. The government’s chief economic adviser told the panel that the “One Nation One Election” will allow members to focus their time and energy on governance matters, rather than continuous campaigning, sources said.
Gurumurthy is understood to have highlighted that it is frequent elections that impact the federal structure.
He noted that continuous elections inflict severe costs, including global market uncertainty, policy paralysis under the Model Code of Conduct, administrative strain and constant campaign demands that trap national leaders while exhausting opposition bandwidth, the sources said.
Gurumurthy is believed to have conveyed to the committee that frequent polls also replace voluntary cadres with paid workers and vote-buying.
He highlighted that international studies also emphasise that democracies suffer disruption during elections, and thus this exercise of elections should not be repeated every year, the sources said.
The economists spoke strongly in favour of simultaneous elections and they supported the reform for the nation and its economic development, they said.
Committee Chairman P P Chaudhary said that during the panel’s field visit, the Gujarat chief secretary told the members that around three lakh teachers are deployed for election duty.
“Eighty-five per cent teachers are deployed in poll duties. Preparation of the voters list is different.
“There are panchayat elections, municipality elections, assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections. So you can well imagine how much losses students of the government schools have to suffer,” he said, adding that they are not able to complete the syllabi.
Several journalists also expressed their views before the panel and their opinions were divided.
While those journalists who favoured the simultaneous polls highlighted that there are a few pressing issues which must be considered before the proposed bill is brought, those opposed voiced concerns regarding the current frequency of elections, emphasising that the expenditure on incentives such as freebies represents a significant and recurring financial burden for the government.
They argued that Indian democracy flourishes due to continuous elections, which is an important feature of the nation. The elections allow for accountability from the government representatives regularly, they said.
The sources also said that a few opposition MPs objected to the invitation extended to two journalists for their alleged controversial conduct but it was overruled.
The journalists who attended the meeting included Shekhar Gupta, Raj Chengappa, Anjana Om Kashyap and Sudhir Chaudhary.
Tuesday, October 6, 2026