As many as 63,100 vials of indelible ink have been supplied to distribution centres across the State for the April 26 Lok Sabha elections.
Each small bottle contains ten millilitres of ink, sufficient to mark the index fingers of approximately 700 voters, said Sanjay Kaul, Chief Electoral Officer, Kerala, on Friday.
The second polling officer is responsible for applying the ink on the left index finger of the voter, once the first polling officer has established his/her identity. Before applying the ink, the second officer must ensure that the finger is clean of ink marks. The officer must ‘stain’ it from fingertip to first joint with a brush.
Kerala has 2,77,49,159 voters in all for the Lok Sabha polls. More than double the required bottles of ink have been delivered for the use of the 25,231 polling booths in Kerala, Mr. Kaul said.
For the April 26 Lok Sabha election in Kerala, the Election Commission has spent approximately ₹1.3 crore for purchasing ink from the Mysore Paints and Varnish Company (MPVL). Karnataka government-owned MPVL enjoys exclusive rights to manufacture this ink in India.
Indelible ink was first used in the 1962 Lok Sabha elections. It has since been used in all subsequent elections. The formula used in the special ink was developed by the National Physical Laboratory of India.
This system of staining the finger with this special ink, Mr. Kaul said, helps to prevent fraudulent voting. Once applied, the ink dries in about 40 seconds. It cannot be washed off and takes a few days to naturally fade away.
