Overview

• At a New Delhi hearing, 16th Finance Commission chair Arvind Panagariya endorsed synchronising Lok Sabha and state elections, calling staggered polls costly and disruptive to governance.
• Panagariya cited research suggesting roughly a 1.5 percentage-point growth lift from simultaneous elections and said Model Code of Conduct restrictions cost the Finance Commission two months in 2024.
• JPC chair P.P. Chaudhary referenced the Kovind panel’s estimate of a 1.6% GDP boost—about Rs 7 lakh crore—and framed the proposal as helping advance the Viksit Bharat 2047 objective.
• The committee is examining expenditures and operational effects such as tourism losses and officials shifting into election mode, with testimony from Panagariya, Surjit Bhalla and Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
• Bhalla argued fewer election cycles could reduce violence and stabilise policymaking, while the JPC’s report is due by the first day of the last week of the 2025 winter session.