Electoral officers have been burning the midnight oil to cope with a late surge in people wanting to vote in next month’s general and local elections.

Applications more than doubled between the last two registration periods, jumping from 950 between February 5 and March 10 to 1,947 between March 11 and April 20, with officials working until 3am on April 21 to deal with an “extremely busy” deadline day.

The council also reported a massive increase in postal voters, with 14,694 applications in the Kingston and Surbiton constituency, compared with 9,965 for the 2005 ballot.

Officials were unable to say whether there had been any increase in the 18 to 24 age group, although there were reports in a surge of enthusiasm in other parts of the country following the first televised leaders’ debate on April 15.

Kingston residents will be able to vote for MPs in the Kingston and Surbiton or Richmond Park constituencies on May 6. All 48 council seats on Kingston Council will also be up for grabs.