The disqualification of RJD leader Anil Sahni has necessitated by-elections in the Kurhani assembly constituency. The Mahagathbandhan has given ticket to senior leader Mukesh Kumar Kushwaha who has won from this constituency thrice. BJP entered the fray and fielded Kedar Prasad Gupta, who was elected from here once in the 2013 assembly elections. After the formation of Grand Alliance in Bihar again, this will be the first time that JDU is contesting an assembly bypoll. Before this, two by-polls were conducted in Bihar in Mokama and Gopalganj constituencies, and both the seats went to the RJD quota from MGB.

Kurhani is an OBC dominated seat, where around 45% of the total population belongs to this category. Caste factor plays an important role here in every election. Among the OBCs, Yadav, Kushwaha, Kurmi and Mallah are the major caste groups. The general and SC categories are around 25% & 20%, respectively and the percentage of Muslim voters is around 16%. Mahagathbandhan has given the ticket to a Kushwaha leader and aims to consolidate the votes of the Kushwaha community along with the Yadavs and Muslim votes, which are the core voters of RJD. At the same time, BJP has tried to get the votes of upper castes, namely Bhumihar and Baniya, which are their core voters. The two factions of LJP are also supporting BJP.

Given that two additional parties have joined the fight, it appears that neither group's caste calculations are precise. The AIMIM and the VIP (Vikasheel Insan Party) have announced their respective candidates. Nilabh Kumar, a Bhumihar leader, received a ticket from VIP to a fight against the BJP, which had previously merged three of the party's elected MLAs into its fold. This constituency has a sizable population of Bhumihar and Sahni Community Voters, which will be helpful for the VIP, thus denting the BJP. AIMIM's fielding its candidate Md. Gulam Murtuja would undoubtedly impact the vote share of Mahagathbandhan. AIMIM's candidate in Gopalganj, Abdul Salam, finished third in the by-election with 7.25% of the vote.

Before this, Bihar had previously seen the holding of two by-elections this year, in which MGB and BJP each gained one seat. This time around, there is a fierce rivalry. Before the election, Tejaswi Yadav and Nitish Kumar would campaign for Mukesh Kushwaha jointly and organize joint rallies. BJP candidate Kedar Prasad Gupta is receiving explicit support from LJP leader Chirag Paswan.

Interestingly, in the last two elections, the voters here have voted against the alliance (in 2020 against the BJP-JDU Alliance & in 2015 against the RJD- JDU Alliance) and elected the other party in a close contest. This time, the battle between the BJP and JDU will again be fierce, and this is not the first election in which Kedar Prasad and Mukesh Kushwaha will square off. They both ran for this seat in the 2015 elections, which Kedar Prasad Gupta won. It will be intriguing to watch who prevails this time.