Bodh Gaya, located on the banks of the Lilajan (Phalgu) River in Bihar’s Gaya district, is one of the four most sacred pilgrimage sites for Buddhists worldwide. It was here that Siddhartha Gautama, the prince of Lumbini and a wandering ascetic, attained enlightenment under the Mahabodhi tree in 534 BCE, after renouncing his family at the age of 29. Following this transformative event, Siddhartha became known as Gautama Buddha and Bodh Gaya became the birthplace of Buddhism, a religion followed by an estimated 100 crore people globally.
Emperor Ashoka, a key figure in the spread of Buddhism, visited Bodh Gaya around 200 years after Buddha’s enlightenment. He constructed a temple and monastery at the site, which is now known as the Mahabodhi Temple. In 2002, the temple was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For centuries, Bodh Gaya remained a central hub of Buddhist civilisation until it was ravaged by the Muslim Turkic armies of Qutb al-Din Aibak and Bakhtiyar Khilji in the 13th century. This led to the Mahabodhi Temple falling into disrepair and being abandoned for centuries. It was only in the late 19th century that restoration efforts began, reviving its spiritual and historical significance.
The electoral history of Bodh Gaya is equally fascinating. The Bodh Gaya Assembly constituency, established in 1957, is a reserved seat for Scheduled Castes (SC). It is one of the six Assembly segments of the Gaya Lok Sabha seat, which is also reserved for SC candidates. Over the years, Bodh Gaya has not shown loyalty to any single political ideology, electing MLAs from across the political spectrum – from the Left to the Right, as well as various centrist and socialist parties.
Since its inception, Bodh Gaya has witnessed 18 Assembly elections. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has emerged victorious the most times, winning five times, including in 2015 and 2020. The Communist Party of India (CPI) has won the seat three times, while the BJP and Congress have won twice each. Other parties, such as the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Swatantra Party, Janata Party, Lok Dal, and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), as well as Independent candidates, have each won once. In the 2020 elections, RJD’s Kumar Sarvjeet retained the seat by defeating his BJP rival by 4,708 votes.
The Bodh Gaya Assembly constituency has a significant SC population, accounting for approximately 35.72 per cent of the electorate. Muslim voters make up around 7.3 per cent of the constituency. The constituency is predominantly rural, with rural voters constituting 92.03 per cent of the electorate, while urban voters account for just 7.97 per cent.
In the 2020 Assembly elections, Bodh Gaya had 315,397 voters. This number increased to 324,068 during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The voter count is expected to rise further when the Election Commission releases the updated voter list for the 2025 Assembly elections.
Central Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), a constituent of the NDA, is the current MP from the Gaya Lok Sabha seat. During the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the NDA led in the Bodh Gaya Assembly segment, indicating a potential shift in voter sentiment.
(Ajay Jha)
