In 1999 a proposal for holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State was first mooted by the Law Commission of India. However, frequent elections (for state and Centre), according to experts, hamper long-term policymaking because every decision is seen as reason for votes. Thus to end this vicious cycle of elections, Chief Election Commissioner has revived the debate on the proposal of simultaneous elections.
Reducing government expenditure: Holding an election requires crores of rupees by the govt or the general public finances. And holding elections many times a year to the state legislatures in addition to holding the Lok Sabha election once every 5 years costs thousands of crores to the public exchequer. If elections are conducted at the same time there'll be important saving of public's money that may be utilized for developmental works.
More time for development work: Ministers and their parties are in constant election mode since election to some or the other state legislature is just a few months away. This results in them giving them less time to devote to their official duties. If simultaneous elections are held, the ministers and MLAs will be free for at least 4 years to devote to their official duties and constituencies.
Reducing party election expenses: Political parties have to engage in continuous resource generation since every year there are elections in at least 2 or 3 states. If elections are held simultaneously, then expenses of political parties will also be under control. It will drastically reduce the role of black money in election funding since political parties will not be tempted to seek illegal sources of funding for election campaigns.
Better utilization of security forces: During elections, hundreds of police forces have to be deployed. Not only does this require huge amounts of money, but the security officers also are diverted from their work of ensuring internal security in the country.
There are frequent elections in one or additional states and if the elections in the local level government bodies are also included, there's no year when there is not some sort of election going on.
The contention is that with multiple elections, the Model Code of Conduct is in force for much of the time, which prevents the government from initiating new projects and ultimately slows down development work.
It affects stability and economic development as campaigning are more directed more towards the vote bank than for the nation’s progress.