New Delhi, Oct. 31 -- The staggered election cycle in the country results in massive fiscal waste, discourages private corporate investment, ties up the administrative and security apparatus and perpetuates a campaign culture which in turn is detrimental to good governance and the health of democracy, economists told the Joint Parliamentary Committee convened on Friday to review the one nation, one election bill. Detailing the systemic inefficiencies of separate elections, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister S Mahendra Dev set out how the cost of running separate elections goes far beyond the cost of running the actual elections. About policy distortions, Dev pointed to several empirical studies which show that state administrations will routinely cut their discretionary commodity tax receipts, divert electricity supplies and issue farm debt waivers prior to elections to win over key voting groups. Infra projects which are initiated in the run-up to the polls also see a marked drop in completion rates whenever an incumbent administration is changed....