Mysuru: First it was voting machines and now marker pens are set to enter the country’s polling scene . People turning out to vote could soon have marker pens inking their fingers as the country’s only authorized company making the indelible ink used, Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited, is now hoping to make the process more sophisticated.
While currently officials mark fingers with indelible ink using a brush, they could soon be using marker pens to do the same if the proposal is cleared by the Election Commission of India and the National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi.
Revealing this, managing director of the company, M.V. Hemanth Kumar said the proposal to use marker pens for dabbing indelible ink on voters' fingers was submitted to the ECI a year ago. The marker pens could make the use of indelible ink more efficient, according to him. While a bottle of 10ml indelible ink suffices for 400 people , it can be used for at least 800 people with a marker pen. “A while ago we introduced a brush to apply ink and it is being used in elections for the past two years,” he added.
A secret formula developed by the National Resource Defence Corporation (NRDC) is used to make the ink which the company manufactures for all elections in the country under a tripartite agreement it has entered into with the ECI and NRDC. It also supplies the ink to 25 other countries.
As many as 95,000 bottles of 10 ml ink each have been despatched under tight security for the coming ZP-TPelections. The company has received orders from Tamil Nadu (1,40,000 bottles), West Bengal (1,80,000 bottles), Assam (50,000 bottles) and three other states.
