DAY 3

SITUATION ROUND

The day 3 of Mock Parliamentary Elections, 2023 striked its journey of an extremely interesting
and intriguing series of events with its 1st event of the day, the ‘Situation Round’ from 12:30 to
1:30 in the seminar hall. In the aforementioned event, one representative from each political
party was required to be present on the stage, where it was open for the audience to pose their
questions in the form of hypothetical situations and ask for their respective responses from any
concerned political party, in order to address the issues that were faced by the citizens of the
country based on their manifesto. Each of the 11 political parties was given an opportunity to
address at least one hypothetical situation and propose the preferred steps and measures that
would be taken up by them in order to come out with a solution.
The Independence peoples party was questioned on one of the points mentioned in their
manifesto regarding night schools for working students where a citizen posed a situation in
which he was first forced into child labour and then for studying in the late night hours by his
parents. One of the citizens posed a situation, questioning the People's Empowering Social
Transformation party, P.E.S.T. about their vision of the establishment of a national body
concerned for eradicating corruption from the system while another citizen expressed his
grievances against the humanist progressive party with regards to severe issues hampering his
very existence, his citizenship in India. A fellow citizen also raised the voice of the women by
asking the political parties in general to justify their allocation of members in their party as none
of the parties have even 50% of women representation nor that any of the political parties have
any female presidential candidate or prime minister candidate in their party.
The situation round was indeed an enthusiastic and interactive session as it gave proper space
and environment to all the political parties for presenting and establishing their stand on various
realistic scenarios and issues that prevail in our society and are faced by the people. It
significantly portrayed the way in which these issues and concerns would be addressed by the
political parties and it also gave the citizens, the people of the country an opportunity to express
their discontent with the political parties, their ideologies, manifestos, and the policies proposed
by them.

PRESS CONFERENCE

On 29th March 2023, The Election Commission held the Press Conference of Political Parties
by 1:30pm. The venue was the Seminar Hall in the beginning but later on it was changed to
Room no 101. As there were debates going on simultaneously, the number of participants from
each Media House, Think Tanks etc were reduced. The conference was started by the People
Empowering Social Transformation (PEST) followed by the Jana Samveda Rakshaka
Paksha(JSRP) and the Bharatiya Awaaz Party. Different Media Houses, Think Tanks and
Individual Reporters attended the conference and questioned the parties about their
manifesto.The conference was given a break around 2:30pm and it restarted by 3:30pm. Then
the Progressive Conservative Party (PCP) and the Indian Youth Democratic Front (IYDF) held
their conference. The event came to an end around 4:15pm.

DEBATES

The total debate session included 6 debates out of which 1 debate, i.e., between PEST and
Inquilab had to be canceled on spot due to the occurrence of some academial issues before the
Inquilab political party. The first debate was between Reformist People’s Party and Indian Youth
Democratic Front, followed by the Independence People’s Party and Humanist Progressive
Party, Bhartiya Awaz Party and Jan Samveda Rakshaka Paksha, and lastly, the debate round
between Indian United Republic party and National Democratic Reformist Party.

The topic of debate between the Bharatiya Awaz Party and Jan Samveda Rakshaka Paksha
was “The Viability of a hypothetical ban on sales and consumption of alcohol.” The debates
presented by both the parties are as follows :

BAP - Bhartiya Awaz Party JSRP - Jan Samveda Rakshaka Paksha

Opening Statement - Imposing a ban on
alcohol will not just have an impact on the
economy but also on the people. Initially
when it was tried to be banned it did not end
very well as it is concerned with the beliefs
and practices of the people across diff
regions and “religions'', which need to be
respected. Instead of putting a complete ban
to it, they preferred looking for a healthy way
suiting to the regions where alcohol will be
legally circulated according to the age as well
as the state policies. The party also
mentioned that the current policies are
working perfectly fine.
Alcohol makes a major part of the country’s
economy, hence, it cannot be banned
completely as also is the most regulated
industry.
Main Argument - The party attempted to
differentiate between alcohol and liquor as
alcohol is used in beauty products,
medicines, skincare products and even in
antiseptic liquids like dettol. Therefore,
regulation would be necessary and not a
complete ban.
Opening Statement - The party signified more
of a non-interference role with regard to what
the people consume, rather is concerned with
providing access to affordable health care for
all, the funds for which would be gathered
from the Public Private Funds.
The party also put forward an incident which
took place before the covid lockdown when
there were long queues for alcohol outside
the shops. One of the members said “Indian
people love alcohol and just want to be
intoxicated by one or the other thing.”
Party also mentioned that alcohol is also
consumed majorly because of religious rituals
specifically mentioning certain cultural
practices of christianity and hinduism.
If stopped, the supply of alcohol will anyways
be circulated in black markets which would
make everything very chaotic and eventually
bring everything down. Banning is not a
suitable solution to this problem, however, we
need to make more regulations and
emphasize on the need to be responsible
drinkers, restrict underage drinking, educate
people about its injurious effects of over
consumption and not compulsorily put a ban
against it.
 Closing Statement - The party acknowledged
that both the parties were in favor of not Closing Statement - The party acknowledged
imposing a complete ban as they mention that both the parties were in favor of not
about providing license to the sellers in order imposing a complete ban as they recognised
to be more secure. alcohol as something which is also given as a
The party also referred to an example from form of gift. Considering all the scenarios the
Bihar where ‘mahua’, an alcohol, is party concludes that banning would create a
consumed as a ritualistic practice. Hence, the horrible chaotic situation, giving birth to a
right to practice any religion freely ensured by huge network of black markets. Hence, it is
the Indian Constitution must be upheld. not in favor of banning alcohol.
During the covid era as well, alcohol was one The party also plans to initiate an underage
of the major sources of revenue for the policy wherein aadhar can be made a source
country. of information in order to know the age of the
Henceforth, it should be regulated and not consumer or the purchaser of alcoholic or the
entirely banned. like substances.
Both the parties, Independent People’s Party and Reformist People’s Party placed forward
elaborate constructive criticisms of their opponents, solely based on their manifestos which
brought forth room for improvement along the lines of both the parties.

IPP HPP

The party argued that the opposition had no The party attempted to address the neighbors
clarity on various projects mentioned in their made by our neighboring countries that have
manifesto, whereas IPP is firm with not even tried to create a hindrance for the nation, neo
going to give away any land, not even a pinch imperialism. The party representative also
of sand to China or any other country. They mentioned pro khalistan protests in foreign
laid proper emphasis on the importance of countries. They also describe their vision in
education and said, “trying to bake cakes the educational sector where research and
when they can’t even make bread on their development degree will directly employed
own.” Where is the land for the playground to from there.
be acquired ?
The party also recognized the north eastern
states as it asks about the justification of
ecotourism initiatives and where are these
funds gathered from the tax that we pay, so
when natural calamities severely hit these
kinds of regions following he said, “what north
eastern can do for you but what you can do
for north east.”