Selfies with 'inked finger' crowd social media

Indian cricketer Suresh Raina posted his selfie with the inked finger in focus, and so did many voters – young and not so young – on social networking sites, as they flaunted their indelible mark as proof of exercising their democratic right and asked others to vote too.

"I have done my vote, have you?", Raina wrote on Twitter with a selfie.

Pictures of inked finger, with accompanying messages like "my vote, my pride", "best thing I have done as an Indian citizen" are being posted on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook as the national capital and several other states went to the polls in the third phase of the nine-phase elections Thursday.

Even hashtags like: #InkedForChange, #MyIndiaMyVote and #LSpolls are trending on Twitter.

Emoticons (animated expressions) were a substitute to reflect their various moods of happiness after casting the ballot.

"It is your power use it for better tomorrow," wrote Abhishek Tyagi on Twitter.Amit Chawla, a professional photographer, posted a selfie with the inked finger close to his face.

"Mera vote(My vote) meaning important...voted did you?" Chawla posted. There were many who posted only their inked finger, and not the selfie.

"Koi bhi desh perfect nai hota, use perfect banana padta hai' (no country is perfect, it takes effort to make it perfect) ..did my bit to make India perfect," Kevin posted on twitter with a picture.

Another twitter user Anshul Bharadwaj wrote: "This is more meaningful than any other tattoo. Vote for change." Ankit Sinha, a PR professional, took to Facebook to urge people to vote. "It's time to change the nation. So please vote," Sinha posted.

Shravan Gupta, 60, who cast his vote at the Krishna Nagar polling booth in east Delhi, was seen smilingly flaunting his index finger on his son Kuldeep's Facebook page."I voted for stability. That's what we need most," Gupta said.

And there are others who hope their vote will help bring a change in the country. "My first time vote and I hope my vote counts," Priya Sharma told IANS. Urging fellow citizens to be responsible voters, Jyoti Sharma tweeted: "We voted, did you?"