by Martin Jefferies

Voters head to the polls in the general election today, with many eyes on South Thanet - one of the most hotly contested seats in the country.

Labour's Stephen Ladyman and the Conservatives' Laura Sandys have been locked in a hard fought battle for people's support.

Peter Bucklitsch for the Liberal Democrats and Trevor Shonk for the UK Independence Party make it a four-way contest.

Dr Ladyman, who has been the MP for South Thanet since 1997, won by just 664 votes at the 2005 count.

But he would have finished second had boundary changes which come into effect at this election been in place five years ago.

Notional results suggest the Tories would have won with a 41.2 per cent share, with Labour taking 39.5 per cent of the vote.

Dr Ladyman and Ms Sandys' campaigns have both been bolstered by high-profile visits from top politicians over the last few weeks.

Communities secretary John Denham joined the Labour campaign trail last week, following in the footsteps of Meg Hillier, a junior Home Office minister, and Glenys Kinnock, the wife of former party leader Neil Kinnock.

William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, and Richard Benyon, the shadow minister for fisheries, put their weight behind the Tory campaign.

In North Thanet, Conservative veteran Roger Gale has held the seat for almost three decades and comes into the election with a healthy majority of more than 7,600 votes.

Michael Britton has been flying the flag for Labour, with Laura Murphy and Rosamund Parker representing the Liberal Democrats and the UK Independence Party respectively.