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The destiny of Rishi Sunak as the Prime Minister of Britain and the leader of the Conservative Party is uncertain as the UK heads to the polls on Thursday.

 

Roughly 46.5 million British citizens are eligible to vote in the election. The voters will choose members of Parliament from 650 constituencies, with 326 seats needed for a majority under the first-past-the-post system.

 

At 44, Sunak is facing voter dissatisfaction with the ruling Tories, who have been in power for 14 years. He has been struggling to catch up with the 61-year-old Keir Starmer-led Labour Party throughout the six-week campaign.

 

Both leaders concluded their campaign messages with different tones — Sunak advised voters against giving a "supermajority" to “tax-raising” Labour, while Starmer downplayed the possibility of a landslide victory, expressing concern about a low turnout affecting the final result.

 

On Thursday, about 40,000 polling stations will open nationwide at 7 am local time as voters arrive to mark their chosen candidate on a paper ballot. Identification documents are now required for voting, and the elections are open to all registered adult voters living in the UK, including Indians as Commonwealth citizens.

 

Once the votes are cast and the polling stations officially close at 10 pm local time, attention turns to the definitive exit poll, which provides a reliable snapshot of the UK-wide expectations. Counting begins in various locations across the country immediately, and the first results are anticipated just before midnight local time.

 

Stop Labour’s supermajority is the central message British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was trying to drive home on Wednesday's final day of campaigning, as most of the incumbent Conservatives all but conceded defeat in the general election.

 

According to polling experts, there is a prediction of a low turnout, which was at 67 per cent in the last general election in December 2019 when Johnson secured a solid majority with his "get Brexit done" campaign. 

 

If opinion polls are accurate, the current Tories are expected to win anywhere from 53 to 150 seats, while Labour is forecasted to win by a large margin. The vote, called by Sunak, is taking place earlier than necessary and has caught much of his party off guard.

 

The 2019 General Election resulted in a Conservative victory. The party won 365 seats, while the Labour Party won 202 seats.