India's cabinet accepts recommendation to hold simultaneous national, state elections

NEW DELHI - India's cabinet has accepted a recommendation to hold simultaneous elections to state assemblies and the national parliament, the information minister said on Wednesday, a move pushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to improve governance.

A government-appointed panel had recommended in March that simultaneous elections in the world's most populous country will help increase transparency, but the move is contentious and will have to be approved by parliament.

Simultaneous election will strengthen democracy, minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters, adding that the plan is supported by a large section of India's young population.

The government will build consensus and take all legal aspects into consideration before moving forward, he said.

Simultaneous elections used to be the norm in India, but the cycle was disrupted decades ago, resulting in the current staggered system which sees on average five or six state polls being held either at the same time or separately every year.

Frequent election campaigns take politicians away from governance, raise electioneering expenses and also pause new policies and programmes from being announced due to an election code, Modi and his government say, and have been pushing what is called the "One Nation, One Election" plan.

The nine-member government panel, appointed by Modi's government last year, also said it found that real GDP growth was higher when simultaneous polls were held, compared to a decrease when they were not.

Those opposed to the idea, including some prominent opposition parties, say it violates India's federal politics.