Musician Vishal Dadlani took to his Instagram handle to share a video showing the ink on his finger fading conveniently after he cast his vote. Many citizens flagged that marker pens were allegedly being used instead of indelible ink at several polling booths.
The ink is meant to mark that a citizen has voted and generally prevents a person from casting their vote again. While indelible ink usually takes several days to disappear, several voters on Thursday claimed that the ink rubbed off quite easily.
On Thursday night, Vishal Dadlani shared a video of his finger where the ink was barely visible. He said in the video that he had not even attempted to remove the ink and mentioned that he regularly uses sanitiser after shaking hands with people. “This is definitely not indelible ink,” he asserted in the video.
Additionally, he captioned the post, “Can confirm, this was definitely not indelible ink. Happy to make an official statement if needed.” Fans were quick to react to Vishal’s video, with some agreeing how there’s also removed after watching Vishal’s video, with some sharing their own experiences. One user joked, “Indelible ink bhi nakli. Paneer bhi nakli. Sabji me chemical. Paani mei Uranium. Chicken me Anti Biotics. Hawa mein PM2.5. Raastey me Pot holes. Samosa me chowmin. Pizza me pineapple. Aur kya kya dekhna padega.”
Another one wrote, “I did my daily chores.. washing utensils and washing my hands after my meals. The mark is now GONE. Did I even vote? Who knows.” Earlier on Thursday morning, after casting his vote, Dadlani had also expressed disappointment over the low “public presence” at the polling booth during the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.
Speaking to the media outside the polling station, Dadlani said it was “shameful” to see such low voter turnout and added that he had stopped “asking people to vote” because of the apathy.
