Mysore :

The Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd. (MPVL), a feather in the cap of this heritage city as it is the sole industry that supplies indelible ink (Voters’ ink) to the entire country and some foreign countries too, had commenced the production and supply of the indelible ink months before the announcement of Lok Sabha poll schedule yesterday.

The ink, used to mark on voters’ fingers during elections to avoid fraudulent, multiple voting and malpractices, has been applied to over 4.5 billion voters both in India and across the world. The ink is produced in association with the Election Commission of India, National Physical Laboratory and National Research Development Corporation.

MPVL, the only one of its kind (among the PSUs) in the country, was established by Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar in 1937 and named as Mysore Lac and Paint Works Ltd. It has been supplying ink for the Lok Sabha, Assembly and local body elections since 1962.

MPVL Managing Director M.V. Hemanth Kumar told SOM that more than 200 personnel have been working since January to produce the ink for the Lok Sabha elections, to be applied on 81 crore voters, which is 10 per cent higher than last year.

MPVL has received orders for manufacturing 21.65 lakh vials of ink for the coming elections. A total of 14 lakh vials have been supplied to 20 States so far and the remaining will be delivered by this month end, said Hemanth Kumar and added that MPVL had supplied 19.4 lakh vials of ink for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and this year, the demand is for 21.65 lakh vials.

“The cost of each 10-ml vial is Rs. 142 (excluding excise duty and VAT) and can be applied on about 500 voters. It has a shelf-life of six months and it remains on the finger for about three weeks,” said Hemanth Kumar.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / March 06th, 2014