Mysuru firm to supply ink for polls

Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited (MPVL) has 1,32,000 vials of ink of 10 ml ready to supply to the State Election Commission for the upcoming Assembly elections.

The State-owned company received the order a few weeks ago. Around 20,000 packets of sealing wax were also sought from the company. The order is estimated to cost ₹2.06 crore. Each vial of ink is sufficient to apply on 600 voters. The ink mark would stay for 20 days. The ink is based on a chemical combination formulated by National Physical Laboratory.

MPVL is perhaps the only PSU in the country to manufacture indelible ink. Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, the erstwhile Maharaja of Mysuru, had established the company in 1937.

The company had exported the ink to Afghanistan, South Africa, Nigeria, Canada, Ghana, Turkey, Nepal, Sierre Leone, Papua-New Guinea, Burkina Faso and Cambodia.