President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday indicated that he supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea of holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. "The Election Commission can also put in their ideas and efforts on holding the polls together. That will be highly beneficial," he said, in response to a student's question on the elections expenditure, NDTV reported.

The head of state was taking a special class at the Rajendra Prasad Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, which is located in the presidential premises, on the occasion of Teachers' Day. Here, he was answering students' questions and sharing his opinion on a range of subjects, including on cross-border and homegrown terrorism.

Modi had first pitched the idea of holding simultaneous elections at a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party in March. The prime minister had said this would considerably slash the massive spending on holding polls every year. The Election Commission, too, had supported the idea.