Cumbernauld & Kilsyth go to the polls.

With no fewer than five local councillors standing down, the contest promises to be a cliffhanger as the constituency bades farewell to Independent Gordon Murray, Labour men Gerry McElroy and Danny Carrigan and Scottish Nationalist David Key. Former Labour councillor Mark Griffin has also left his council seat to continue as a Holyrood MSP.

Last Thursday, candidates in Cumbernauld South battled it out in a highly-charged hustings at Condorrat Social Club in a move that showed the deep political divisions that exist in that ward - and elsewhere in the constituency.

The men and women with the will to win are in the final stages stage of their campaign as they trek round the constituency, doing the last-minute legwork that could make all the difference on the big day.

With stacks of ballot papers now delivered to the schools and community halls that will act as polling stations, all that remains is for voters to turn up from 7am onwards and put those crucial numbers on each.

When the polls close at 10pm, teams of drivers will collect the ballot boxes and rush them to Ravenscraig Sports Centre in Motherwell.

The count venue will be crammed with candidates and party activists from 9am on Friday - who have been told that the results are likely to be announced at some point from 10.30am onwards. It has been acknowledged however that this has the potential to be an all-day event.

Counting votes by hand is clearly a thing of the past as voting machines will do all the work - as will be the case all across Scotland. The News team will be on the ground at Ravenscraig to deliver all the results which we will post online as soon as we receive them.

For more details see www.cumbernauld-news.co.uk - and don’t miss next week’s edition for full coverage of this landmark contest.