Election ink

The ink was developed by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL), a research institute of CSIR, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt.

Ink is typically applied to the left-hand thumb, over the nail and finger in a straight line, especially to the cuticle, where it is almost impossible to remove quickly.

[citation needed] Dipping bottles can leave a more comprehensive stain with slightly greater longevity (depending on silver nitrate content) than markers can.

However, marker pens are much cheaper and easier to transport, considerably reducing costs to the election organisers, and the advised option when stains are only needed to be guaranteed for 3 to 5 days.

The armed guerrilla Shining Path of Peru has repeatedly threatened to kill those found with indelible ink stains to dissuade from participation in elections.

[5][6] In the 2004 Afghan presidential election, allegations of electoral fraud arose around the use of indelible ink stains, which many claimed were easily washed off.

Additionally they cited reports of ink being smuggled in from neighboring Thailand[10] to mark peoples' fingers before they had a chance to vote, thus denying them their rights.

[11] During the 2010 Afghan parliamentary election, the Taliban delivered night letters threatening to cut off anybody's finger which was marked with indelible ink.