EC orders 26 lakh bottles of indelible ink for poll

New Delhi: Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Election Commission has ordered 26 lakh indelible ink bottles worth Rs 33 crore. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the poll panel had bought 21.5 lakh phials, 4.5 lakh less than this year. Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd, a government of Karnataka undertaking, is the only authorised manufacturer of indelible ink for the EC.  Managing Director, Mysore Paints, Chandrashekhar Doddamani said the company has received an order for 26 lakh phials of 10cc each from the EC. In 1962, the Election Commission had made an agreement with Mysore Paints for supply of indelible ink for Lok Sabha and assembly elections.  Since then, it has been supplying the ink for elections in India. PTI

Over 87,000 groups on WhatsApp target voters         

New Delhi: The first phase of voting begins from April 11 and WhatsApp — and not its parent company Facebook — has turned out to be the biggest social media platform for more than 87,000 groups to target millions with political messaging. “Over 87,000 groups aiming to influence the voters are currently active on WhatsApp. From fake statistics related to various government policies to news promoting regional violence, manipulated political news, government scams, historical myths, propaganda to patriotism and Hindu nationalism, WhatsApp has it all in the election season,” said a social media expert. One WhatsApp Group can have a maximum of 256 users so these 87,000 groups can reach over 2.2 crore people directly. IANS