Bihar Elections: Gaya's Galfar Rasgulla Attains Centrestage Amid Poll Fever
Galfar Rasgulla in Panditji Sweet Shop is considered auspicious and is consumed by candidates prior to election campaigning.
Published : October 8, 2025 at 3:48 PM IST
By Brijam Pandey
Gaya: Elections in India are a colourful affair. Amid the poll heat in Bihar, interestingly, a rasgulla from a local sweet shop in Gaya has become the talk of the town, grabbing everyone's attention.
The Galfar Rasgulla from Panditji Sweet Shop in Panchanpur market of Gaya is considered to be the harbinger of victory in elections and has been tasted by noted political personalities. Those who have savoured this particular Rasgulla from the shop include President Droupadi Murmu, her predecessor Ramnath Kovind, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Chief Ministers Karpoori Thakur, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, Jiten Ram Manjhi and the present Chief Minister Nitish Kumar among others.
The shop owners are not affiliated to any political party but are keen observers. Ask them what is still ailing, lack of development and welfare programmes is what they cited as a poll issue in their Tikari assembly constituency.
This shop established in 1969 by four brothers has an interesting history. One of the owners, Sunil Mishra explained that the enterprise was started from a hut and has grown significantly over the last 56 years. It sells rasgullas weighing 50 grams to 2.5 KG and even a 5 KG rasgulla is prepared on order.
Narrating one of the past events, Sunil Mishra, one of the owners of the sweet shop told ETV Bharat that once a Police officer named Pushpankar Pandey who had a sweet tooth had come only to end up being a frequent visitor. He would consume 10-12 normal rasgullas in one go, and was never satisfied with a smaller quantity.
"Pushpankar Pandey suggested that the shop should make bigger rasgullas. That's how the four owners decided to make a rasgulla so big that it was not available anywhere else. Even today you will not find rasgullas bigger than the ones sold here," said Sunil Mishra.
Jai Kishore Mishra, a co-owner of the shop disclosed that people even cut rasgulla purchased from the shop as cake on festive occasions.
"My father opened the shop here and we made a huge rasgulla at the request of the Police Station staff that was gifted to the Inspector General. Our rasgullas are even exported," he added.
Rasgullas weighing 1-2 KG are sold daily in large numbers but those weighing more than 2 KG are taken on order by people for occasions like elections, marriages and festivals. During the election campaign and also after victory, local leaders send Rasgullas weighing between 1 KG and 5 KG as gifts to the top leadership of their parties.
The shop's popularity is evident from the fact that its name is on the lips of everyone, from candidates to voters and politicians.
Another co-owner Anil Mishra said any festival is incomplete without sweets and elections are the biggest festival in a democracy.
Locals enjoying sweets at the shop claimed that the mouth-watering rasgullas here have helped build cordial relations.
The Galfar Rasgulla has witnessed victory and defeat in elections for almost six decades. It has assumed an auspicious aura for the contestants, with those contesting the Tikari seat in particular beginning their campaign with its consumption.
A single rasgulla here can cost up to Rs 300 to Rs 600, although the normal ones are available for as low as Rs 15-50. The shop has a large clientele. The customers here do not shy from making political observations. One of the customers Murali Yadav expressed his displeasure with the performance of the present Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) legislator Anil Sharma. "It is difficult to point any development activity here. Just go and see the condition of my village. Forget about the roads, just look at the poor condition of the school. There has not been any development even during Nitish Kumar's rule. This time Panditji's rasgulla will not be sweet for the HAM candidate," he said.
Tikari, also known as Tekari, is a sub-division of Gaya district. Once the seat of the Tikari Raja, it is an unreserved constituency with 23.88 percent Scheduled Caste (SC) population. The Muslims account for about six percent of the electorate here. After the recent voter revision, the number of voters here has increased by more than 3,000 to 3,21,569.
In the 2020 assembly elections, Anil Kumar of HAM had defeated his Congress rival Sumant Kumar by a narrow margin of 2,630 votes.
The constituency also has a substantial number of Yadavs, which constitute around 72,000 voters, while the Bhumihars population here is around 40,000. Political analysts believe that the upper castes dominate the constituency.
Nevertheless, the poll campaign is incomplete here without Galfar Rasgulla.
The locals say they want to vote for development this time, and seek welfare of the farmers and employment for the youth. "The women have been given Rs 10,000 each while the same money could have been used to open universities and hospitals or to generate employment. People are being made dependent on others by distributing money," said a local resident.
Another voter made a strong observation by saying, "Development knows no caste."
Also Read
Bihar Polls: ECI Issues Directives For Strict Enforcement Of Model Code Of Conduct
