The vote is taking place on Thursday, with 14 different candidates having put themselves forward.
This includes representatives from the mainstream parties, but there are also candidates from smaller parties and there are independents too. It is a big election for both Labour and the SNP, with both their leaders coming to the constituency several times.
Labour hopes the by-election can be the start of a Scottish revival, while it is the SNP's first electoral test since Humza Yousaf became leader. Michael Shanks - Labour Michael Shanks is the current favourite to be the next MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West.He hit the headlines a few years ago for running all of Glasgow's 6,000 streets. He has unsuccessfully stood for election three times before. He tried for a place on Glasgow City Council in 2012, for the Glasgow Kelvin seat at Holyrood in 2016, and to become the MP for Glasgow North West in 2017. Shanks also quit the party on the day of the 2019 general election in protest at the party's stance on Brexit. Local members were upset about the selection process, with two constituency Labour parties writing to the leadership about their concerns that three leading candidates had been blocked from standing. In the campaign, he has contradicted UK Labour leader Keir Starmer on gender reform, the two-child benefit cap and the bedroom tax. Shanks said "differences of opinion" between the Scottish party and Westminster shows "the maturity of devolution". Katy Loudon - SNP Despite the SNP having won the seat in 2019, the bookies say Katy Loudon is currently behind Shanks. The 43-year-old has also worked in education, having previously been a primary schoolteacher for 10 years.Loudon also works for the Rutherglen MSP, Clare Haughey. She was installed as the candidate after Humza Yousaf decided the first group of candidates were not up to standard. Her campaign has called Shanks a "Labour yes-man" while referring to Loudon as "an independent woman". Scottish politics The outsiders The Tories have chosen leader of their group on Glasgow City Council, Thomas Kerr.Bill Bonnar is standing for the Scottish Socialists, Niall Fraser for the Scottish Family Party, Ewan Hoyle for Volt UK, Christopher Sermanni for the TUSC, David Stark for Reform and Colette Walker for Independence for Scotland Party.To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
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