UK Election: Voting In Progress

Voting in UK election has begun country-wide as million of citizens have trooped out to cast their votes in an election that is being dubbed 'a very tight race'.

BBC reports that polls opened at 07:00 British Summer Time (BST) at around 50,000 polling stations across the UK.

They will remain open until 22:00.

About 50 million people have been registered to vote, while a total of 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) will be elected. Also, there are more than 9,000 council seats being contested across 279 English local authorities.

play (BBC)

In addition, mayors will also be elected in Bedford, Copeland, Leicester, Mansfield, Middlesbrough and Torbay, no local elections will however take place in London. People will also be able to vote online for the first time.

Earlier on, some votes had been cast before today (Thursday) through postal voting, which accounted for 15% of the total electorate at the 2010 general election, when the overall turnout was 65%.

Schools, community centres and parish halls will be the most common polling centres, however, pubs, a launderette and a school bus will also be used.