Social media was flooded with videos of common voters, politicians and mediapersons using Acetone to wipe off the ‘indelible’ ink on their fingers after voting for the high-stakes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections got underway on Thursday,15 January. The BMC, however, rejected reports claiming that the ink marks on voters’ fingers were being wiped off during the ongoing civic polls.
Acetone is a colourless, volatile and flammable organic solvent with a sweet, pungent odour, widely used in nail polish removers, paint thinners, and cleaning agents due to its ability to dissolve many substances.
Mumbai Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Varsha Gaikwad posted a video of her party colleague using Acetone to wipe off the ink from his finger. “BMC wiping off accountability? Since morning we have been receiving several reports of how the marker ink being used to show voting has been done, is easily being wiped off. My colleague and his wife here demonstrate how this ink can be easily wiped off with acetone or nail polish remover,” she posted on X.
“The management of the #BMCEllection2026 this time raises several questions about accountability and transparency. The various last minute bribes to voters going unchecked, the missing names of voters, the SEC website crashing making it difficult for voters to find their names, ink that is being easily wiped. The faith of the people in our democratic process must be protected at all costs but the election commission and the BMC seem to be completely unbothered about it. Shame!” Gaikwad wrote on
A journalist from a TV channel posted a video of wiping off the ink using Acetone in his studio, shortly after returning from Panvel, where he cast his vote in the civic polls there.
Reacting to the claims of the ink being wiped off, the BMC said in a statement that such media reports were factually incorrect. As per procedure, polling staff apply indelible ink to one finger of the voter’s left hand at the time of casting the vote on the electronic voting machine at the polling station, it said.
Voting is underway across Maharashtra for 29 municipal corporations, including BMC. The votes will be counted on January 16.
Polling is underway at 2,869 seats across 893 wards in the state to decide the fate of 15,931 candidates, including 1,700 in Mumbai and 1,166 in Pune. As many as 3.48 crore voters are eligible to vote in the polls today.
Apart from Mumbai, other corporations voting today are Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Kolhapur, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Nagpur, Solapur, Amravati, Thane, Parbhani, to name a few.
Maharashtra Navnirnman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray’s also alleged that State Election Commission is using a “new pen”, due to which the markings on the voter’s fingers are disappearing.
“The ink that was used before is being replaced with a new pen, and there are complaints about this new pen. If you use a hand sanitizer, the ink disappears. Now, the only option left is to apply the ink, go outside, wipe it off, and then go back inside and vote again. A new rule has been implemented for campaigning,” hRaj Thackeray had said.
Thackeray alleged that this is proof of how the government can “do anything to stay in power,” while appealing to the alliance workers and others to be “vigilant” of such things after a person was “caught” casting a vote twice.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday dismissed any allegations of changes to the indelible ink mark which is given to electors after they cast their vote, saying that the ink is actually being erased from the hands, then the Election Commission should look into the issue.
Responding to Raj Thackeray’s allegations, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “creating a ruckus on everything and raising questions is very wrong.”
After he cast his vote in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) elections, Fadnavis said, “I have also been marked with a marker, is it erasing? The Election Commission should look into this issue and use something else, they can use oil paint if they want, the elections should be impartial. But creating a ruckus on everything and raising questions is very wrong.”
