KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 — PAS MP Dr Hatta Ramli today questioned the government’s contradictory replies in Parliament on the contents of the indelible ink used in Election 2013.

The Kuala Krai MP pointed out that Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said yesterday in a written reply to his question that the indelible ink — which is meant to prevent double voting — contained silver nitrate at a level of one per cent.

But Shahidan said in a separate written reply to Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng that the indelible ink did not contain chemicals, but only permitted food colouring.

“Which is correct? Both can’t be correct,” Dr Hatta (picture) told The Malay Mail Online at Parliament House here.

“The percentage of one per cent is too low that it made it not indelible,” he added.

EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar told The Malay Mail Online last night that the ink used in the 13th general election contained silver nitrate, and not just food dye.

He also said the EC was currently investigating the level of silver nitrate used in the ink, which was meant to be four per cent, based on the commission’s agreement with the ink supplier.

Shahidan’s reply to Dr Hatta stated that the EC had used one per cent concentration of silver nitrate in the indelible ink, as the Health Ministry had stated that safe concentrations of silver nitrate range from 0.5 per cent to one per cent.

“Checks by the SPR show that the content of silver nitrate in indelible ink differs from country to country,” said Shahidan, using the Malay initials for the EC.

EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof had admitted recently that the indelible ink was a “failure”, as he expressed disappointment with widespread reports of the ink being washed off easily with as little as soap and water in the 13th general election.

The indelible ink was introduced in Election 2013 as one of the main safeguards against electoral fraud.

Abdul Aziz said last May that the strength of the indelible ink used in the May 5 polls differed from those used in other countries because of Malaysia’s halal and health regulations.