SALAR NEWS

Mysore Paints to provide 26 lakh vials of indelible ink for LS polls

State government has been manufacturing the ink since 1962, solely for the Election Commission

PTI

https://salarnews.in/public/uploads/images/newsimages/maannewsimage22022024_005448_mysore paints.jpg

New Delhi, 21 Feb

Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd has been tasked with providing over 26 lakh vials of indelible ink, which leaves a deep purple mark on a voter's left forefinger, to various states for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

State government has been manufacturing the ink since 1962, solely for the Election Commission. The ink is applied on the left forefinger of a person as proof that she or she has cast the vote. "Our total order is around 26.5 lakh vials of ink. As of date, around 60 per cent of the total material has been dispatched to the states," the managing director of Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd, K Mohammed Irfan said.

He said around 24 states have been provided with their share of the ink. The remaining order, he said, would be completed around 20 March. A 10 ml vial of ink can be used to mark the fingers of around 700 people. A polling station has around 1,200 voters.

Over 12 lakh polling stations would be set up for the polls expected to be held in April-May. The ink was developed by the Council of Industrial Research-National Physical Laboratory based in Delhi. Indelible ink mark is normally expected to last for three days when applied on the skin but lasts for a few weeks on the fingernail till the nail grows out.

COVID-19 outbreak was perhaps the only time Election Commission had allowed the use of the ink for non-electoral purposes. Some states had used it to identify people under home quarantine during the pandemic. Earlier, the ink was supplied in glass vials but now plastic is used, Irfan said.

According to Election Commission, as in January Inia has a voter base of nearly 97 crore out of which a maximum of over 15.30 crore are in Uttar Pradesh and a minimum of 57,500 are in Lakshadweep.