Kottayam: The Election Commission (EC) collected a total of 1,01,928 bottles of indelible ink for smearing on the fingers of voters on polling day which falls on April 6. Each bottle of ink is called a phial.
There are 40,771 polling booths in the state. Two bottles of ink are supplied for each booth. One additional bottle of ink will be stocked for two polling booths.
One bottle contains 10 millilitre of ink. The second polling officer smears the ink on voters' left index finger at the booth. The ink dries within 40 seconds and remains on the finger for several days.
Even after ballots was replaced with electronic voting machines (EVM), indelible ink is still used to identify the voters who exercised their franchise. The system was implemented in order to prevent bogus voting.
Made by Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited
The Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited in Bengaluru owned by Karnataka government is the only company in India that is permitted to manufacture indelible ink.
The company was established in the name Mysore Lac and Paints Limited in 1937 by the then King of Mysuru Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV. The famous Mysore sandal soaps and Mysore silk sarees also were introduced during his era.
After Independence in 1947, the company was taken over by the government. It was renamed Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited in 1989. Indelible ink was first used in the Lok Sabha polls in 1962. Since then, the ink became an essential part of the polling.
The ink was developed in the National Physical Laboratory of India in Delhi and the contract for manufacturing it on industrial scale was given to the company. As there are chances to sabotage election, the ink is unavailable in the public market.
Also the ingredients in the ink is unknown to the public. Indelible ink is made based on a formula developed by the National Physical Laboratory of India. The only known element in the ink is silver nitrate.
Apart from use in India, indelible ink is exported to more than 25 countries including South Africa, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.
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