26 lakh bottles of indelible ink for world's largest democratic exercise

NEW DELHI: As the electorate increases over the years, so does the amount of indelible ink ordered by the Election Commission that is used to mark voters during elections across the country. For the current LS polls, EC has ordered 26 lakh bottles of indelible ink at a total cost of Rs 33 crore. In 2014, 21.5 lakh bottles of indelible ink were ordered. One bottle can be used to mark as many as 350 voters.




The indelible ink plays an important role in the election exercise. Applied to the left-hand index finger of the voters in a polling booth, it act as a deterrent for a voter to vote note more than once under rules mandated by the EC. The high-quality indelible ink dries out completely in less than 40 seconds, and the mark of indelible ink lasts several days. It acts as a testimony of participating in the democratic exercise.

The indelible link is manufactured by public sector undertaking Mysore Paints and Varnishes Ltd (MPVL), set up during the reign of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar in the early 20th century.

In 1962, the Election Commission of India in collaboration with the Union law ministry, national physical laboratory and National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) signed an agreement with MVPL for the elections.

While the PSU initially supplied the ink only for parliamentary and assembly elections, over the years, it started providing ink for polls to municipal bodies and cooperative societies also.