Patna, Dec 8 (PTI) Counting of votes for the by-election to Kurhani assembly constituency in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district is underway on Thursday amid tight security arrangements.Nearly 58 per cent of voters exercised their franchise on Monday in the by-poll to Kurhani where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and the BJP have locked horns for the first time since their break-up four months ago.“The counting of votes began at 8 am. Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the counting centre at the RDS College in Muzaffarpur,” a senior official of the office of the state Chief Electoral officer said.Altogether 13 candidates, five of them Independents, are in the fray though the contest is being seen, primarily, as between the BJP’s Kedar Gupta and the JD(U)’s Manoj Singh Kushwaha. Both are former MLAs.Gupta had lost to Sahani by less than 700 votes in the 2020 assembly polls which BJP and JD(U) had fought in alliance. Now, the JD(U) is a part of “Mahagathbandhan” comprising RJD, Congress and the Left parties.The by-poll was necessitated by the disqualification of sitting RJD MLA Anil Kumar Sahani. PTI PKD NN NN