The Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd has been tasked with providing over 26 lakh vials of indelible ink, which leaves a deep purple mark on a voter's left forefinger, to various states for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

•      The Karnataka government undertaking has been manufacturing the ink since 1962, solely for the Election Commission.
•      The ink is applied on the left forefinger of a person as proof that she or she has cast the vote.
•      He said around 24 states have been provided with their share of the ink.
•      The remaining order, he said, would be completed around March 20.
•      A 10 ml vial of ink can be used to mark the fingers of around 700 people. A polling station has around 1,200 voters.
•      Over 12 lakh polling stations would be set up for the polls expected to be held in April-May.
•      The ink was developed by the Council of Industrial Research-National Physical Laboratory based in Delhi.