Written by Damini NathNew Delhi | September 23, 2025 12:23 AM IST 3 min readFlagging the costs of having Lok Sabha and Assembly elections spread over five years, 16th Finance Commission Chairman Arvind Panagariya is learnt to have informed a Parliamentary panel that frequent polls make the Union government hesitant to enact reforms.Panagariya, who has made a written submission to the joint committee of Parliament scrutinising the simultaneous elections Bills, is learnt to have cited papers, including from India, Germany and Latin America, that suggest frequent elections can delay reforms.According to him, the prospect of having to contest elections in one or more states every four to five months makes the Union government hesitant to undertake reforms.Panagariya, former member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Surjit Bhalla and former deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia are scheduled to appear before the committee on Wednesday.The committee, chaired by BJP MP P P Chaudhary, was formed in December last year to examine the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 that would pave the way for simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies by cutting short the terms of some Assemblies to align with that of the Lower House.It is learnt that Panagariya has pointed out that there are 13 rounds of Assembly elections in a five-year period, meaning that there is an election in some state or the other every four-and-a-half months. Supporting the idea of simultaneous elections, he maintains that the cost of repeated elections is visible.According to him, the 16th Finance Commission had become operational in early 2024, but when it was ready to visit states to consult with state governments about their fiscal needs, the Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha elections was enforced. The commission could start the visits after the elections in June. Further delays were caused by rounds of state elections in October and November 2024.Story continues below this adIn his view, repeated implementation of model code interrupts policymaking, delays procurement and project execution. On the other hand, elections once in five years, he believes , would give a longer and clearer policy horizon to the Union and state governments.He is learnt to have cited research papers on political economy to underline that state elections generally have an impact on the spending behaviour of the Union government as well. If elections are simultaneous, such an impact will be a one-time event in five years, he maintains.According to him, the Union government’s ability to increase spending in the states to win elections in a single election year is limited by its capacity to expand the budget that year. In contrast, if elections are spread over all five years, its capacity to expand spending multiplies by a factor of five.He is also learnt to have conveyed to the committee that announcement of large subsidies by a political party at the national level will be less likely if elections are held once in five years.Damini Nath is an Assistant Editor with the national bureau of The Indian Express. She covers the housing and urban affairs and Election Commission beats. She has 11 years of experience as a reporter and sub-editor. Before joining The Indian Express in 2022, she was a reporter with The Hindu’s national bureau covering culture, social justice, housing and urban affairs and the Election Commission. ... Read MoreStay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Arvind Panagariya