The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections on Thursday took a dramatic turn after a wave of viral videos showed voters removing so-called indelible ink from their fingers using acetone and nail-polish remover. The footage quickly spread across social media, triggering widespread concern over the integrity of the voting process in India’s richest civic body.
Several of the videos featured ordinary voters, journalists, and political figures wiping off the ink within seconds, something that should not be possible under standard election procedures. The controversy erupted just as polling began across Maharashtra for 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Thane, and Kalyan-Dombivli.
Mumbai Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Varsha Gaikwad was among the first to publicly raise the issue. She shared a video on X showing her party colleague and his wife easily removing the ink using acetone. In her post, Gaikwad questioned the credibility of the election process and accused authorities of failing to protect democratic safeguards.
She also pointed to a series of election-day problems, including missing voter names, alleged last-minute inducements, and technical glitches on the State Election Commission website. According to her, the combination of these issues has weakened public trust in the electoral system.
The controversy gained further momentum after a television journalist demonstrated the ink removal live on air. He claimed that he had just voted in Panvel and showed viewers how the ink mark vanished within seconds when wiped with acetone. The visual proof intensified fears that voters could potentially remove the mark and return to vote again.
SHOCKING!
— AAP Mumbai (@AAPMumbai) January 15, 2026
AAP Mumbai Working President @rubenmasc demonstrates that indelible ink is NOT being used by officials in BMC elections!
Aam Aadmi Party has complained to the SEC about this! pic.twitter.com/cHkLKIbLXf
In response, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation issued a statement rejecting the allegations. The civic body said that polling staff apply indelible ink to a voter’s left-hand finger at the time of voting, strictly following established procedures. It described claims about easily removable ink as misleading and factually incorrect.
However, political leaders remained unconvinced. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray alleged that the traditional indelible ink had been replaced by a new marker pen that could be erased using hand sanitiser or solvents. He warned that this made it possible for people to vote multiple times and urged election workers to stay alert.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis acknowledged that the matter should be reviewed but dismissed suggestions of deliberate manipulation. After casting his vote in Nagpur, he said that if the ink was indeed erasing, the Election Commission should examine it and make changes, but creating panic and questioning every aspect of the election was not right.
Despite the controversy, voting continued across the state. Maharashtra is electing representatives for 2,869 seats across 893 wards, with more than 15,900 candidates in the fray. Over 3.48 crore voters are eligible to take part in the civic polls, which will determine the leadership of key municipal corporations. Vote counting is scheduled for January 16.
Indelible ink plays a critical role in Indian elections by preventing repeat voting. If the mark can be removed easily, it raises serious concerns about the credibility of the process and could undermine voter confidence. With videos continuing to circulate and political pressure mounting, the ink controversy has added an unexpected layer of tension to the BMC Election 2026, turning what should have been a routine civic poll into a debate over electoral integrity and public trust.