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IN THE COURT OF THE VACATION CITY CIVIL AND

SESSIONS JUDGE AT BANGALORE

INTERLOCUTORY APPLICATION NO. _____ of 2013

In

ORIGINAL SUIT NO. OF 2013

BETWEEN:

Sri Abraham T.J. and others Plaintiffs

AND:

Bharatiya Janata Party and others Defendants

APPLICATION UNDER ORDER XI RULE 12 R/W SECTION

30 AND 151 OF THE CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, 1908

1. The plaintiffs respectfully seek that the facts, averments,contentions, pleadings, argument and every other narration

contained in the accompanying plaint may kindly be treated

as forming an integral part of this interlocutory application.

2. The plaintiffs respectfully submit that a recourse to theprovisions of OrderXI, Rule12 R/w Sections 30 and 151 of

the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 is permitted under the law

when a party would satisfy the Court that the conduct that

has been alleged in support of the cause of action as pleaded

by him is such as to have occurred in an organised, deliberate

and planned environment. Therefore, the seeking of

documents and materials by a plaintiff on the premise that

the same could shed greater light on the defendants publicconduct is plainly provided for by the terms of Order XI Rule

12 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

3. In other words, the election sheet prepared and published bythe BJP necessarily evidences the participation of numerous

individuals within the BJP and the collective culpability or


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participation thereof of such persons is a matter that is

plainly at issue in the suit as filed by these plaintiffs. Further,

the specific or contributory role of each of such participant in

the formulation of the various election promises that

eventually stood breached and the degree of skill, caution or

care that was thereby accorded to such formulation is a

matter of integral interest to the issues in the suit as filed by

these plaintiffs. For instance, it may emerge from the papers

preserved by the BJP that one of its members who was part ofthe team that prepared the promise sheet had objected to the

insertion of a specific promise on the ground that it would be

dishonest to do so and that there existed no prospect of

fulfilment of the same. However, even after such an objection,

if the promise at issue was incorporated in its original form in

the promise sheet, the nature and extent of consideration,

care, skill, caution or resistance that was exhibited by the

other members of the team would shed much light on the

collective honesty of the team that prepared and published

the promise sheet.

4. The plaintiffs further submit that the BJP is an association ofpersons and not a natural person with an individual mind.

Therefore, the intent of the BJP that is material to several ofthe plaintiffs pleadings is to be gathered from the document

trail left behind by the persons within the BJP. It is an

ancient principle of common law that no group of persons

could lawfully come together to defraud or to obtain

advantages to themselves by subjecting strangers to injury,

distress or detriment. As such, the acts of the BJP are in

essence, the acts of its human members.

5. Further, in the context of the special facts of this case, thedegree of care that a person attaches to his public statements

is best known from the preparation that preceded the making

of those statements and from the caution and guard exhibited


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by that person during the term that he was expected to

perform such of those pledges he had undertaken to the

public who had, on the faith that those pledges would be

fulfilled should they act in the manner sought by that person,

done certain specific acts. It is therefore necessary, in the

interest of justice, that the plaintiffs should have access to all

documents, materials or other tangible products that were

relied upon by the BJP for the purpose of informing itself that

its representation in its promise sheet was honest to its ownknowledge. These documents could be in the form of

statistics, scientific literature, financial statements and

projections for the Government, social census and analysis,

agricultural data or trends, meteorological data, planning

trends and historical performance, industry data for each of

the sectors addressed in the promise sheet, expert opinion or

analysis, budgetary constraints, regulatory analysis, banking

performance and debt or other such materials described

differently.

6. Similarly, after the promises were made and the BJP partywas elected to power, it is necessary for the petitioners, in the

interest of justice, to probe the extent of care and caution that

the party took in periodically monitoring whether they wereadhering to their election promises at all and if so, with how

much care, skill and attention. If it be discovered that the

party did not at all bother to discuss or exhibit any concern

for abiding by its promise sheet on the strength of which it

was elected to power, it would have thereby exhibited an evil

and pernicious state of mind going back to the time during

which it made those fraudulent misrepresentations. That is, it

was expected of the BJP party, after it assumed executive

power in the State of Karnataka, to regularly hold

deliberations to assess the extent of performance of its own

election promises and if such meetings were indeed held, then

documents evidencing the minutes and proceedings thereof


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are of integral relevance to this judicial proceeding. If it be

discovered that fewer or no such meetings were held by the

BJP, the extreme gravity of their fraudulent

misrepresentation to the voters would thereby stand judicially

established.

7. The plaintiffs further submit that the defendants would haveno manner of privacy in the matter of safeguarding from the

knowledge of this Court in this proceeding, documents that

evidence their state of mind throughout the period of time

that is the subject of the instant suit. It is too well established

as a matter of law and as a further matter of civil procedure

that no group of persons could claim any secrecy or privilege

to their own internal correspondence and documentation that

formed the basis for their solicitation of trust from the

members of the public in a proceeding that alleges in a legal

form, the breach or abuse of such trust reposed by the

members of the public in that group of persons.

PRAYER

Wherefore, in the facts and special circumstances of this

case, this Honble Court may graciously be pleased to:

a) direct each of the named defendants to submit to theseplaintiffs and thereby to this Honble Court, true, verified,

unedited and complete copies of all documents or

materials of whatever description that formed the basis

for the consideration, formulation, preparation and

finalisation of the promise sheet that came to be

published and disseminated by the BJP for the purpose

of soliciting votes to the elections held to the 13thVidhana

Sabha of Karnataka on 10-May-2008, 16-May-2008 and

22-May-2008;

b) direct each of the named defendants to submit to theseplaintiffsand thereby to this Honble Court, true, verified,


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unedited and complete copies of all documents, minutes

or materials of whatever description evidencing the

consideration by the defendants of fulfilment of the

promises contained in their aforesaid promise sheet

during the term of the 13thVidhana Sabha;

c) Pass any other order or to issue any direction as may bedeemed expedient by this Honble Court to be desirable

in the circumstances of this case, in the interest of justice,

equity and good conscience.

Bangalore

Date: 02-May-2013 Advocate for Plaintiffs

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