Polling has started in the world's most populous democracy, and across India, voters are having their fingers indelibly marked to prevent multiple voting.
The Times reports that all of the special ink comes from a small company founded by the Maharajah of Mysore in 1937, and has been conveyed to every one of the 828,804 polling stations. It's good to see that India produces such a world-beating product, and it's so effective and cheap that they export to several other countries, including Canada and Mongolia.
This year, their work has been complicated by the decision to mark voters with a line rather than just a dot, as in past elections. And yet they have worked their marvels, producing an ink that marks the skin for fifteen days, essential when polling takes place on consecutive Thursdays...
As a Returning Officer, such tools as these can be vital to prevent voter fraud, and when the potential number of voters is as high as 714,000,000, an quick and easy check is essential.
So, a big hurrah for Mysore Paints and Varnish, Karnataka's gift to democracy!
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