7, Lok Kalyan Marg( 7LKM), formerly 7, Race Course Road, is the official residence and principal workplace of the Prime Minister of India. Situated on Lok Kalyan Marg, New Delhi, the official name of the Prime Minister's residence complex is Panchavati. It is spread over of land, comprising five bungalows in Lutyens' Delhi, built in the 1980s, which are the Prime Minister's office, residency zone and security establishment, including one occupied by Special Protection Group (SPG) and another being a guest house. However, even though there are 5 bungalows, they are collectively called 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. It does not house the Prime Minister's Office but has a conference room for informal meetings.
The entire Lok Kalyan Marg, which lies right across the road, is closed to the public. Rajiv Gandhi was the first Prime Minister to reside at the erstwhile 7 Race Course Road, in 1984. It does not house the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), which is located in the South Block of the Secretariat Building, on Raisina Hill nearby in New Delhi, where the Cabinet Secretariat functions. The nearest Delhi Metro station is Lok Kalyan Marg metro station. When a new Prime Minister is nominated his/her original house is for the time being given a security detail and the new office holder is then advised to move in the 7, LKM at the earliest possible date.
The residence was earlier called 7, Race Course Road, which changed to 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, following the renaming of the road on which the house is situated, in September 2016.
History
Earlier, the Prime Ministers of India lived in their own house or house allotted to them through Parliament, allotment by virtue of being an MP. Jawaharlal Nehru took up residence in Teen Murti Bhavan, which used to be the residence of the Commander-in-Chief of the British Indian Army in British India; it was formerly called the Flagstaff House. After Nehru's death in 1964, the building was converted to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in 1984.
The next Prime Minister of India Lal Bahadur Shastri chose 10 Janpath as his official residence, where he stayed 1964–1966. It was later allotted to the Congress (I) party, though a part of it became biographical museum, Lal Bhadur Shastri Memorial and Museum at 1, Motilal Nehru Place (formerly 10, Janpath), adjacent to the complex. The current resident of 10, Janpath is INC interim President, Sonia Gandhi.
After the assassination of Indira Gandhi at her 1, Safdarjung Road residence garden while going towards neighbouring 1, Akbar Road office for an interview on 31 October 1984, it was converted into the Indira Gandhi Memorial and Museum. Former Chief Justice of India Sudhi Ranjan Das had previously lived at this address before Indira Gandhi.
Rajiv Gandhi, her son and successor as Prime Minister, along with his wife Sonia Gandhi and children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, became the first occupant of erstwhile 7, Race Course Road, in 1984.
When V. P. Singh became the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Urban Affairs designated 7, Race Course Road premises occupied by Rajiv Gandhi as the permanent residence and office of the Prime Minister of India to ensure that all successive prime ministers were allotted the same house on assuming office. A government notification on 30 May 1990, officially designated these bungalows as the official residence of Indian Prime Minister.
In the 1990s I. K. Gujral and some of his predecessors, used 7, Race Course Road as Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
The 14th and current Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, chose 5, Race Course Road as his residence as the erstwhile 7, Race Course Road was being refurbished at that time, after his predecessor Manmohan Singh had vacated it. The erstwhile 7, Race Course Road was chosen as Modi's office.
Construction
The bungalows of the 7 LKM were originally designed by Robert Tor Russell, who was part of British architect Edwin Lutyens’ team, when he was designing New Delhi in the 1920s and 1930s.
The Bungalows
The Prime Minister's residence was built in the 1980s. It does not have his office inside the house, but has a conference room for informal meetings. The Prime Minister's residence and office and security spread across five bungalows: Bungalow 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9. This includes 5, Lok Kalyan Marg, the Private Residential Zone for the Prime Minister, though he primarily operates from 7, Lok Kalyan Marg.