BJP gets HQ land before election dates release

The BJP got additional 2 acres land in the national capital for its headquarters, which is just opposite to existing office of the party on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, just days before the date for the general elections were announced.

The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs cleared the three-year-old proposal, days before the Election Commission announced the date for general elections and the code of conduct come into force.

The new plot, 3B-DDU, which is around 2.189 acres on DDU Marg, will be in addition to 2 acres already allotted to the party on the same road on plot 6A-DDU. On the 6A, the BJP's headquarter functional since February 2018.

Defending the decision, an official in the Ministry said that "Additional land was allotted as per the allotment of land for political parties framed by the then UPA Government in 2006."

As per the norms, any political party having 101 to 200 MPs in Parliament is eligible 2 acres land while the party with more than 200 MPs entitled to get 4 acres in the national capital for their headquarter.

After BJP getting 282 seats in Lok Sabha in 2014, the saffron party approached Housing and Urban Development Ministry seeking additional 2 acres of land in 2015. Though the Ministry cleared the allotment of the land immediately, it got delayed as the BJP raised the land dimension issue.

On February 25, this year, the Delhi Development Authority, agency under the Housing Ministry and also the custodian of the land in the national capital, approved the proposal. The DDA also put out a public notice on change of land use from "group housing" to "public or semi-public facilities" on March 9, a day before the date for general elections announced by Election Commission of India (ECI) and code of conduct come into force. The BJP have to pay Rs 2.08 crore for the additional land, sources said.

Other political parties including Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) also got the land on the DDU Marg under the same policy. RJD already built the office while Congress headquarters under construction.