The fate of Banstead’s MP Crispin Blunt hangs in the balance before the announcement of a ballot result this afternoon.
Tory party members have voted on whether Mr Blunt should stand again in the next election for Reigate and Banstead after he lost the backing of local senior Conservatives.
The postal ballot of about 450 members closes at midday and the count is expected to start at about 1.30pm.
Mr Blunt is fighting to be reselected as the area's prospective parliamentary candidate after Reigate and Banstead Conservative Association's executive council failed to back him in a secret ballot in September.
The association has not revealed why Mr Blunt was not automatically reselected.
Tory big guns Michael Gove, Eric Pickles and Malcolm Rifkind have been among those to visit the constituency in recent weeks in support of Mr Blunt.
Mr Blunt was elected as the Conservative MP for the area in 1997 replacing Sir George Gardiner who had been deselected by the local Conservative association.
The former prisons minister was among the MPs who voted against the Government by rejecting possible military action in Syria in August.
It has been claimed that the reason Mr Blunt was not automatically reselected was because of his sexuality.
Mr Blunt came out as gay and separated from his wife in 2010.
Dr Ben Mearns, a member of the Reigate and Banstead Conservative Association, said: "Some of the executive council are quite intolerant people and I believe the primary reason for him not being voted for is his sexuality."
Imran Khan, a former Muslim Reigate and Banstead councillor deselected by Tories last year after a prayers row, said he believed Mr Blunt would be reselected.
Mr Khan said: “I’m extremely confident that Crispin will get through.”
He said that 22 members of the executive council had not backed Mr Blunt in the secret ballot, but the hundreds of rank and file party members now would.
He said: “I think what this is all about is a schism between a socially conservative, militant executive and more culturally open, pro-diversity party.”
He added: “There is not a shadow of a doubt that the reason he was deselected was because he is gay.”
The Epsom Guardian will break news of the vote as soon as it is announced.
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