Economic Council Tells Parliamentary Panel Staggered Polls Hurt Private Investment

Economists from the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister told a parliamentary panel Friday that staggered elections harm private investment. The Joint Parliamentary Committee is looking at Bills on simultaneous elections. BJP MP P P Chaudhary leads this committee.

Panel Discussions

The panel met EAC-PM chairman Prof S Mahendra Dev, EAC-PM member Dr Shamika Ravi, and EAC-PM part-time member Prof Pami Dua. They also met Vivekananda International Foundation chairman S Gurumurthy.

Economic Impacts

Mahendra Dev stated that uncertainty from general elections causes a drop in corporate capital expenditure. Ravi pointed out that frequent polls hurt low-income families and disrupt Centre-State coordination, which hurts long-term capital formation. She added that separate elections carry economic costs higher than direct accounting costs. Dua noted that the Model Code of Conduct causes disruptions, government revenue expenditure rises, and personnel deployment increases.

Context

Staggered elections mean that different parts of the country vote at different times instead of all at once. Political discussions around simultaneous elections focus on saving money and improving administrative efficiency for the country.