Why JD(U) has stepped up its campaign against Farakka Treaty renewal | Political Pulse News
The JD(U) has stepped up its campaign against the renewal of the Farakka Treaty, launching a new organisational initiative, “Nitish Samvad”, under which party leaders are travelling across 12 districts in Bihar along the Ganga to build support for its opposition to the water-sharing agreement between the Union government and Bangladesh, which is due to expire in December.
The campaign comes nearly 10 months after the Bihar Assembly elections. With no local elections due in the state, JD(U) leaders have denied any political motive behind the exercise. However, a party leader said, “If JD(U) works hard in these areas, it will ultimately help the NDA in elections.”
Nitish Samvad path
The 12 districts through which the Ganga flows are Buxar, Bhojpur, Saran, Patna, Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai, Lakhisarai, Munger, Khagaria, Bhagalpur and Katihar.
The JD(U) has so far covered four districts — Buxar, Bhojpur, Begusarai and Khagaria. It plans to cover Saran, Vaishali, Patna and Samastipur in October and the remaining four districts in November.
Together, the 12 districts account for 83 Assembly constituencies, or about 34% of Bihar’s 243-member Assembly. The seats are significant for the JD(U)’s NDA ally, the BJP, as well as the main Opposition, the RJD. Backward castes constitute a substantial section of the population in these constituencies.
Numbers speak
An analysis of the results in these 83 constituencies over the 2015, 2020 and 2025 Assembly elections shows a sharp rise in the BJP’s performance in the region. The party increased both its tally and vote share, while also improving its strike rate.
In 2015, the BJP contested 53 of these seats, winning 13, with an average vote share of 36.09%. In 2020, it contested 39 seats and won 25, with its average vote share rising to 40.78%.
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In the 2025 Assembly elections, in which the BJP-led NDA registered a landslide victory in Bihar, the BJP contested only 37 seats in this stretch but won 35, giving it a strike rate of 94%. Its vote share across these seats rose to 49%.
Results in the 83 constituencies over the 2015, 2020 and 2025 Assembly elections
The JD(U), which was part of the Mahagathbandhan with the RJD and Congress in 2015, contested 31 seats in these districts and won 23, with an average vote share of 41.62% and a strike rate of 74%.
After returning to the NDA, the JD(U) contested 42 seats in 2020 but won only 10, with a strike rate of 23.8%. Its average vote share fell to 31.44%.
In 2025, however, the JD(U) put up its strongest performance in the region, winning 28 of the 33 seats it contested. Its strike rate rose to 84% and its vote share increased to 46%.
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Opposition declines
The RJD, meanwhile, has seen a sustained decline in the region. In 2015, it contested 36 seats and won 32, with a strike rate of 89% and an average vote share of 47.11%.
In 2020, the party contested 48 seats but won 28, bringing its strike rate down to 58%. Its vote share also fell to 41.44%. In 2025, the RJD contested 49 seats and won only 11, reducing its strike rate to 22.44%. Its vote share fell further to 39.88%.
The Congress has followed a similar trajectory. In 2015, it contested seats, winning 11 with an average vote share of 38.89%. In 2020, it contested 23 seats and won nine, with its vote share falling to 35.45%. In 2025, it contested 20 seats but won only one, while its average vote share declined to 32.63%.
How Left performed
The Left parties — CPI, CPM and CPI(ML) Liberation — collectively contested 84 seats in the region in 2015 but won only two, both through CPI(ML) Liberation, with a combined vote share of 4.65%.
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Their performance improved in 2020, when they contested 16 seats and won 10, securing a combined vote share of 41%. In 2025, however, they contested 16 seats again, winning two seats with their vote share falling to 33.46%.
The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), then united, has also won seats in the region. As part of the NDA, it contested 19 seats in 2015 and won one, with a vote share of 27.56%.
In 2020, contesting independently, the party fielded candidates in 50 seats across the region but won only one — Matihani — with its vote share falling to 12.33%. Matihani was the party’s sole victory in the state that year.
In 2021, the LJP split into the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) headed by Pashupati Paras and the LJP (Ram Vilas) headed by Chirag Paswan. In 2025, the LJP (RV), a part of the NDA, contested 12 seats in these districts and won six, with its vote share rising to 42.13%.
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The Farakka Treaty
At the heart of the “Nitish Samvad”, is the party’s opposition to the Farakka water-sharing arrangement, which Bihar politicians have long argued is detrimental to the state’s interests.
The Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, signed by India and Bangladesh on December 12, 1996, governs the sharing of the Ganga’s waters at the Farakka Barrage in West Bengal, primarily during the dry season, from January 1 to May 31. The 30-year agreement is due to expire in December.
The JD(U) is now taking Nitish Kumar’s long-standing opposition to the Farakka Barrage to the people, even as Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary presses for the state’s interests to be protected in any future arrangement.
JD(U) national spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan Prasad said, “Nitish Kumarji has always raised the issues of Bihar’s interests and several issues have become an agenda of discussion because of him. The Farakka treaty is one such issue. The existing form of the treaty is not acceptable.”
