The waiting is over. After months of campaigning, policy announcements and debates, election day is here.
The JC will be providing coverage throughout the night as results come in from across the country.
Our live blog, starting at 10pm, will focus on constituencies of interest to Jewish communities throughout Britain, as well as look at the fortunes of individual Jewish candidates and the wider national picture.
Over the course of the past three months we have interviewed party leaders, those hopeful of becoming MPs, and previewed the key seats in areas with the largest Jewish communities in London, Manchester, Leeds and elsewhere.
Among the constituencies we will be taking an interest in through the night are the two key seats of Hendon and Finchley and Golders Green in north-west London.
They have both attracted widespread attention as Labour candidates attempt to unseat their Conservative rivals in battles that have mirrored the national scene.
In Finchley and Golders Green, Tory Mike Freer is up against Labour’s Sarah Sackman, and in Hendon, Conservative candidate Matthew Offord will try to beat his rival from five years ago, Labour veteran Andrew Dismore.
In Essex, Labour’s ambitious young candidate, former National Union of Students president Wes Streeting, will attempt to oust Tory incumbent Lee Scott.
Close battles are also expected in Harrow East, where Labour’s Uma Kumaran is taking on Bob Blackman, and Harrow West, where Tory Hannah David challenges Labour’s Shadow Middle East Minister, Gareth Thomas.
One of the tightest contests in 2010 was in Hampstead and Kilburn, where Oscar-winner Glenda Jackson held her seat by just 42 votes. It surely cannot be as close this time, but the fight between Labour’s Tulip Siddiq, Tory Simon Marcus, and the fascinating Lib Dem candidate Maajid Nawaz has been fascinating to watch.
In Hertsmere, the seat which is home to one of the fastest-growing Jewish communities in the country, David Cameron’s former deputy chief of staff, Oliver Dowden, is almost assured of victory in one of the party’s strongholds – unless Labour’s Richard Butler can spring a surprise of epic proportions.
Less straightforward will be former Labour minister Ivan Lewis’ attempt to hold Bury South, where he is up against Conservative candidate Daniel Critchlow.
Across the Pennines in Yorkshire, Labour’s Fabian Hamilton is battling to stay in Parliament in the constituency of Leeds North East. He is challenged by Tory Simon Wilson.
The Liberal Democrats’ most senior Jewish minister, Lynne Featherstone, also faces a tough fight to keep hold of her Hornsey and Wood Green seat.
On a lighter note, we will see how the country’s oldest candidate, independent 85-year-old Doris Osen, gets on in Ilford North.
Our reporters will bring you a full results service from 7am on Friday, with individual reports on all the relevant constituencies and a round-up on the fate of dozens of other Jewish candidates.
