<h1>Parliamentary panel debates constitutional amendment to allow simultaneous national and state elections amid split expert views</h1> A parliamentary committee is examining a constitutional amendment bill to enable simultaneous national and state elections. Economists gave split views: one backed synchronized polls, arguing repeated enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct disrupts policymaking, shifts spending toward populist revenue outlays, raises indirect costs, and deters investment; another supported 'one nation, one election' but proposed holding all state assemblies together mid-term of the national legislature; a third opposed coupling state polls with national elections, saying separate state polls preserve local issue-focused accountability and that fiscal deficit arguments lack merit. The bill is politically contested.