Volatile Bradford West is the least predictable of the five constituencies in Britain's fourth biggest metropolitan district.

Family and religious loyalties rather than politics often play a large part in votes from the Asian population.

And that can bring shock results, however politically high-profile the candidate may be.

The political make-up of the six wards has also changed dramatically since the last general election. Then there were 16 Labour councillors and just two Conservatives. Now the two parties are running neck and neck with nine councillors each.

Needlessly to say it is a constituency where tensions run high at election time, characterised in the street fight following the count in 1997, which saw Marsha Singh returned as Britain's first Sikh MP. The preceding selection procedure had been fraught with allegations of threats, accusations and wheeling and dealing as candidates battled to succeed long-standing MP Max Madden following his retirement.

At the end of the day, Bradford West was one of the few Labour seats in the country to be returned with a vastly reduced majority. Mr Singh kept the seat with a 3,827 majority, compared with Mr Madden's 9,502.

The inner city University and Little Horton wards are among the most deprived in Britain, and Manningham shot to unwelcome national prominence in the worst possible way in 1995 with two days of rioting. But Government initiatives in recent years have brought in large amounts of funding to provide jobs, training and community safety initiatives.

Drug abuse is still seen as a major problem in the inner city wards and people are still terrified of violence at night by youths congregating at street corners.

According to the 1991 census the population of the constituency stood at 61,600 and was rising. In May, about 73,000 people will be entitled to vote.

Attendances at neighbourhood forums have peaks and troughs, with some of the biggest attendances during the controversial schools review, which switched the district from three- to two- tier education.

Other problems taken to the forums - which include women-only sessions - are the lack of a suitable police presence on the streets, traffic troubles and complaints about dirty streets and the standard of the refuse collection services.

And in the heart of Manningham is vast Lister's Mill, rapidly falling derelict as one grandiose scheme after another to redevelop it collapses. Now it has been bought by award-winning Urban Splash which has submitted a planning application to Bradford Council. The scheme includes apartments with a bird's eye view and a call centre which could bring 1,000 jobs.

Changes are gradually taking place in streets where many people are on benefits and some families still live in over-crowded terraced houses on the edges of the city. Manningham and Girlington won £9 million from the Government's Single Regeneration Budget towards the end of 1998 and there are improvements after a slow start.

Tim Whitfield, acting chief executive of the Manningham SRB partnership, cites a pioneering study project - in which parents as well as children get one-to-one tuition at home - as an innovative example of what can be achieved.

More than 100 fledgling businesses have been set up or expanded in hugely successful business support project, and Jobs@Manningham - a job advice service for the under 25s - is showing good results.