Voters in Noida claim inedible ink on finger came off soon; EC says no merit in complaints

The Election Commission said Thursday it found no merit in the complaints by a number of voters in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar that the inedible ink put on their fingers came off soon after it was applied.

The Election Commission officials said they received a complaint from booth number 190, but found no merit in the complaint.

A few people had complained that they were able to remove the ink with chemicals like nail-paint remover and others said they were able to wipe it off.

Deputy Election Commissioner Chandra Bhushan said a report was sought from the polling officer and it was found that the phial of ink procured from Mysore paints and Varnish Limited was certified by a Council of Scientific and Industrial Research lab, as is the procedure.

"The shelf life of this ink is six months and all the phials are tested by the CSIR and national physical laboratory. In this case too, these ink phials were certified; reports from the sector and zonal magistrates and the micro observers also said the ink was in order," he said.

One of the reasons for the ink to come off, Bhushan said, could be that the voters may have applied oil or cream on their hands. This in turn could have led to the ink coming off.