Chandigarh: Students of PEC University of Technology have created a biometric Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) that can prevent bogus or multiple voting. The project started as part of their curriculum, but the budding engineers soon realised its wider implications and potential. They are now in the process of getting their prototype patented, and are set to approach industrial and public organisations to check its feasibility for wider use. 'In the near future, use of biometric technology will spread to almost in every sphere. This inspired us to try to make the existing electronic voting machine more secure and tamper-proof, while continuing to keep it easy to handle' said Tamanpreet Singh (21), who with his final-year classmates Anurag Rathee and Anshu Goyal, has developed the machine. Tamanpreet, son of a farmer from Ludhiana, aspires to pursue his interest in the synergy of engineering and computers for products of mass consumption. Anurag is from Karnal, and Anshu from Dhuri in Sangrur. All are students of Computer Science and Engineering at the deemed university, where the late Indian-American NASA astronaut Kalpana Chawla too studied. The students, guided by their teacher, came up with the biometric EVM after six months of dedicated research and development. The prototype was recently presented at the institutes annual exhibition, 'Open House'. The prototype works on the principle that voters can be identified by their fingerprints, a database of which is in the process of being created through the Aadhaar unique ID project. If the voters fingerprint is authenticated, a vote can be cast; else an 'Already Voted' or 'Fail' notice will be displayed. The existing EVMs are standalone but if the prototype is connected to a central server, a voter can conceivably cast his vote from outside his constituency. The system can be made more secure by modifying it to store impressions of the iris rather than of fingers. 'We are set to get the prototype patented. The institute does not provide for such a facility, but we will be doing it at our individual level' said the students' guide, Prof Rupandeep Kaur. The chairman of the Board of Governors, Chandra Mohan, who has a degree in mechanical engineering from the institute in 1953, expressed the desire to take the innovation further and approach concerned authorities. Asked for a comment, Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said, 'The feasibility of a biometric EVM is yet to be worked out. I would be able to comment on the project once I receive its proposal and get to see its working and feasibility.' Source: IndianExpress