People across East London have began to cast their votes in this year’s general election.

Thousands of Tower Hamlets residents will be voting for the next MP in the borough’s two constituencies – Bethnal Green and Bow, and Poplar and Limehouse.

The seats have been respectively held by Labour’s Rushanara Ali and Jim Fitzpatrick since 2010.

The overall outcome of the general election is the most uncertain for decades, with no party on course to emerge a clear winner.

Last-ditch appeals by party leaders did nothing to break the opinion poll deadlock and left the country facing the prospect of another hung parliament.

But with millions apparently still undecided or open to changing their minds, the likely new Westminster balance of power remained highly unclear.

Among the last set of polls, three showed the main parties level pegging, three had the Conservatives in front by a single point and one gave Labour a two-point advantage.

Keep checking our dedicated election section for all of today’s news as it happens.