NEW DELHI: The meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examining the ‘One Nation One Election’ saw different viewpoints by top economists on Wednesday as Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya backed the idea, while former Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia differed with the argument that frequent elections add to fiscal deficit and their synchronisation will boost the growth rate.Ahluwalia also suggested that all assemblies go to the polls together but not with the Lok Sabha.
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.
Fiscal deficit is “alien” to election synchronisation, Ahluwalia is learnt to have told the JPC 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 bread-and-butter themes, 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.
Favouring the ONOE proposal, Panagariya said repeated enforcement of the MCC interrupts policy-making, delays procurement and project execution, and shortens the effective reform window for governments, according to 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.
Another economist Surjit Bhalla supported the ONOE as a “positive force” for democracy but proposed that all 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.
‘Simultaneous polls offer clear policy horizon’
Arvind Panagariya said repeated enforcement of Model Code of Conduct interrupts policy-making, delays project execution and shortens the effective reform window for governments, while simultaneous polls held once in every five years offer a longer and clearer policy horizon.