Ink used in Elections in India

INK Used In Elections

Electoral stain typically contains

1. a pigment for instant recognition,

2. silver nitrate which stains the skin on exposure to ultraviolet light, leaving a mark that is impossible to wash off and is only removed as external skin cells are replaced.

Industry standard electoral inks contain 10%, 14% or 18% silver nitrate solution, depending on the length of time the mark is required to be visible.

When it is put on skin, it reacts with the salt present on it to form silver chloride. Silver chloride is not soluble in water, and clings to your skin. It cannot be washed off with soap and water. Not even hot water. Not even if you use alcohol, nail polish remover, or bleach. 

But as new skin grows and the old skin sloughs off, the ink stain will disappear. The ink on the skin goes off in a week. The ink on the nail takes longer, as the nail grows out.

Election stain typically stays on skin for 72–96 hours, lasting 2 to 4 weeks on the fingernail and cuticle area. The election ink used in India puts a permanent mark on the cuticle area which disappears only with the growth of new nail. It can take up to 4 months for the stain to be replaced completely by new nail growth.

Silver nitrate is an irritant and frequently harmful at 25% solution and above.

Electoral stain is traditionally violet in colour, before the photosensitive element takes effect to leave a black or brown mark. However for the Surinamese legislative election, 2005, orange replaced violet as the colour for marking the voters' fingers as it was found to last just as long and be more appealing to voters, as it resembled the national colours. In some parts of the world, women stain their fingers violet for cosmetic reasons, meaning a different colour would be needed in such places to distinguish the marks and to ensure nobody was unfairly prevented from voting.

Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited in Mysore - The company, a Karnataka government undertaking, is the sole manufacturer of the indelible ink, popularly known as voter’s ink, which has been used in elections since 1962 to avoid fraudulent or multiple voting and other malpractices. The exact composition of the ink is not disclosed by the company.
Voters' ink or indelible ink has been used since the third general elections in 1962. Developed by the Delhi-based National Physical Laboratory, the ink's manufacturing has been licensed by the state-run National Research Development Council to Mysore Paints, a 74-year-old company owned by the Karnataka government.Around 20,000 liters of ink used in 2014 general elections.