The by-election was called following the disqualification of the incumbent, Mohd Azizi Abu Naim, on 19 June 2024 due to his support for the Anwar Ibrahim government.

Prior to this, he contested and won the federal seat of Gua Musang at the 2022 Malaysian general election, defeating longtime incumbent Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah of Barisan Nasional (BN).

[6] As a result of violating the party's constitution, BERSATU revoked the memberships of Mohd Azizi and five other politicians who also declared their support for Anwar.

[10] On 18 July 2024, BN nominated Kelantan United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) youth chief Mohd Azmawi Fikri Abdul Ghani as its candidate.

[18] In another PN campaign event in Felda Perasu, former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin claimed in a speech that he was not invited by the then 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah, to form a government following the 2022 general election despite having the alleged support of 115 MPs.

This led the Crown Prince of Pahang, Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah, to call for police action against Muhyiddin for what he described as "deliberately disparaging" his father.