The impact of simultaneous elections

Simultaneous elections do not eliminate the demand of polling personnel, but they consolidate it

- SANJEEV SANYAL SATVIK DEV

INDIA'S ELECTORAL MACHINERY is among the largest and most complex in the world.

Every election cycle mobilises millions of government personnel for polling duty, commandeers public buildings, and places enormous logistical demands on the administrative apparatus. The simultaneous election framework, proposed under the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024, aims to streamline and consolidate this effort into fewer election cycles. A natural question follows: What would this mean in concrete, quantifiable terms for the deployment of polling personnel? A new working paper by the Economic Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) attempts to answer this question rigorously, using the Election Commission’s own benchmarks and historical experience of the last five completed election cycles (1999-2024).