New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called for “widespread” debate on holding simultaneous elections as he said that it will result in financial savings. The prime minister was addressing the fourth meeting of the governing council of NITI Aayog. The meeting was attended by chief ministers of almost all states.
The central government has been toying with the idea of holding simultaneous elections for quite sometime now. “The prime minister called for widespread debate and consultations on simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas, keeping in view various aspects such as the resulting financial savings and consequent better utilisation of resources,” an official release said.
Niti Aayog had last year suggested synchronised, two-phase Lok Sabha and assembly elections from 2024 so as to ensure minimum “campaign-mode” disruption to governance.
In his closing remarks at the NITI Aayog meet, Modi said that corporate investment in agriculture is very low in India and urged the state governments to formulate policies to promote industry participation in the farm sector.
Speaking on various aspects of the Indian economy, Modi said that the world expects India to become a $5 trillion economy soon. He encouraged states to give the finance commission fresh ideas for incentivising outcome-based allocations and expenditure correction.
