AAP moves to new party office in bungalow near Mandi House
The new bungalow was allotted to the AAP on July 25 by the central government following a Delhi high court order—dated June 5
New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday moved its headquarters to new address at Bungalow Number 1, Ravi Shankar Shukla Lane, New Delhi, party officials aware of the development said. The new office is centrally located and is walking distance from the Mandi House roundabout.
“We have vacated the old office in DDU Marg and shifted to the new location,” said an AAP functionary on condition of anonymity.
The new office was seen buzzing with activities on Sunday as sign boards were put up and final touches were being given to the new place, which will become the centre of AAP’s political machinery from now onwards.
The new bungalow was allotted to the AAP on July 25 by the central government following a Delhi high court order—dated June 5—which said that the AAP was entitled to space for a party office in the national capital like other parties and also asked the Union government to decide on the matter within six weeks. The direction came following a plea made by the AAP.
Till Saturday, the AAP operated out of No. 206, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya (DDU) Marg on Rouse Avenue Road near ITO, where party leader Manish Sisodia addressed a gathering of workers and gave a call to the opposition parties to stay united to fight “BJP’s dictatorship.”
The space at 206, DDU Marg, belongs to the Delhi judiciary, which had sought to use this space to expand district services.
On June 10, the Supreme Court asked the AAP to vacate its Rouse Avenue office in the Capital by August 10, clarifying that the earlier deadline of June 15 was being extended as the “last opportunity” for the political outfit to comply with its directive.
The court was hearing an application filed by the AAP seeking modification of the March 4 order requiring it to vacate the premises by June 15 as the land had already been allocated to the Delhi high court in 2020 for expansion of the district judiciary.
The AAP’s ITO office was allotted to the party in 2015 after it formed the government in Delhi with a full majority. The party was headquartered at rented properties in Patel Nagar and Connaught Place earlier.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal founded the AAP in November 2012, following the 2011 anti-corruption movement. In April 2023, the AAP got the status of a national party. The AAP has formed full-majority governments in Delhi and Punjab and won five assembly seats in Gujarat and two in Goa. It has 10 Rajya Sabha and three Lok Sabha members. The Chandigarh mayor belongs to the AAP.