Lok Sabha elections 2019- ‘Vanished into the blue’: Congress’ Sanjay Jha tweets as ‘indelible ink’ comes off

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Updated: Apr 29, 2019 16:08 IST

Congress leader Sanjay Jha tweeted on Monday that the “indelible” ink, applied on the index finger of voters just before casting of vote, can be easily removed amid similar complaints throughout the four phases of Lok Sabha election across the country.

Sanjay Jha tweeted a picture his inked finger at 9:52am after he cast his vote in Mumbai, where polling is being held on six Lok Sabha seats along with 16 other parliamentary constituencies in Maharashtra. The Congress leader also urged residents of Mumbai and India to “let’s move from darkness to sunshine”.

At 10:38am, he had a picture without the indelible ink on his finger.

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“S C A N D A L O U S!!! My ink has vanished into the blue within an hour of voting with just a slight application of a nail polish remover. After a friend sent a photo saying her voting ink got easily removed, I am sending mine as proof,” Jha tweeted.

“Dear ⁦@ECISVEEP⁩ : My ink vanished fairly easily. And I am not the only one,” Jha wrote as he also posted a video.

Also read: In Tripura, Congress accuses BJP of using ‘artificial fingers’, fake ink

Jha also retweeted and replied to jewellery designer Farah Khan about the vanishing ink.

“Dear @ECISVEEP , I just voted 2 hours ago and my ink had also come off easily. How is this possible????? @JhaSanjay I believe yours too came off,” Farah Khan, the daughter of actor Sanjay Khan, tweeted.

During the first phase of the staggered Lok Sabha election on April 11, many voters across the country had claimed that the “indelible” ink came off easily.

S C A N D A L O U S!!!



My ink has vanished into the blue within an hour of voting with just a slight application of a nail polish remover. After a friend sent a photo saying her voting ink got easily removed, I am sending mine as proof.



⁦@ECISVEEP⁩ ⁦@INCIndia⁩ pic.twitter.com/lptGd0s0nL — Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) April 29, 2019

Ritu Kapur, the founder and chief executive officer of The Quint, tweeted photographs of her finger before and after applying nail polish remover on the ink mark on it. “I voted. I got inked. I did not believe the people who said that indelible ink is washing off. So I tried nail polish remover -- and magic -- the mark is gone,” she tweeted.

A Hindustan Times editor was able to remove his with a wet wipe.

There were several tweets tagging @SpokespersonECI with pictures of the index finger without the ink.

The poll body, which has ordered 2.6 million bottles of indelible ink from the state-owned Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd, said the ink used is certified by a central lab.

“A report was sought from the polling officer and it was found that the phial of the ink was certified by CSIR lab, as per the procedure. We are sending the ink for further test,” deputy election commissioner Chandra Bhushan had said on the controversy.

Also read: ‘Indelible’ ink comes off, EVM glitches reported

Bhushan also added that the voters could have applied oil or cream on their hands before the ink was applied, which could have led to the ink coming off.

An official of Mysore Paints had said it does not comment on social media reports and asked for complaints to be sent by email. It did not respond to an email complaint with a video of the ink being scrubbed off within a couple of minutes.