Figure 1(a). Block Diagram of a Ward
Voting system using cloud storage for instant result announcement has been introduced in this paper. Each citizen of India has an unique Aadhaar id which contains the Aadhaar number, Quick Response (QR) code, fingerprint and the iris scan details. But for identification and authentification, QR code and the fingerprints are taken respectively. In this proposed model, a voter can vote from anywhere and from any constituency of India. Counting will be done automatically and thus reduces the manpower and huge time. So that the Election Commission of India can easily announce the results within a short span of time.
India is one of the biggest democratic country having huge population. It is a challenging task for conducting election in countries which have much more population like India. Election is the decision making process which reflects the opinion of the voters. At present, electronic voting machines are used instead of paper voting. In this proposed model, some special features like voter identification and verification, voting from any constituency and publishing the results on the day of election itself have been added.
Single phase election consumes more time, cost, manpower and security until the results are announced. The multiple phase election conducted in states like UP, Bihar, West Bengal will take more time, manpower and cost than a single phase election. With the help of this proposed system, it is possible to overcome the above difficulties.
Voting system with biometric is new and more secured to identify the voters. All the details of each voter are in the main database of Election Commission of India. The main purpose was to avoid false voting [1]. Voting system using cloud has many setups. How the databases are maintained in the cloud, how the calculations take place, how to tally the votes are discussed in [2] & [3]. QR code isthe unique code similar to that of the barcode. Nowadays QR codes are used for identification and verification purpose. One Time Password (OTP) based authentication is secured but it is not suitable for illiterate people [4]. How the votes are sent wirelessly to the main database is explained in [5]-[8]. E-voting system to poll the vote from any place has been explained in [9] & [10] .
In this section, the system architecture, design and working mechanism of the proposed system has been explained.
The architecture of the "Aadhaar identity based electronic voting machine with instant result announcement" is presented below. The block diagram of a ward is represented in Figure1(a) and the combined block diagram is represented in Figure1(b).
Figure 1(a). Block Diagram of a Ward
Figure 1 (b). Combined Block Diagram
The proposed system architecture contains several components in each ward of every constituency: Ballot unit (contains push buttons) of the electronic voting machine, PIC microcontroller, QR code reader, LCD, Fingerprint recognizer, and a Personal computer.
The working mechanism for the proposed model is given as a flow diagram in Figure 2. In the voting system using cloud, all the details of the voters according to the Aadhaar identity number are uploaded in the main database of the Election Commission of India before the election. Each voter of India has a unique Aadhaar card which contains a unique QR code.
Figure 2. Flow Diagram for the Proposed System
On the day of election, when the vote enters into the polling booth, the QR code of the voter is read from his/her Aadhaar card by using the QR code reader. That code is then matched with the QR code in the main database of Election Commission of India. If the QR code is matched, it shows that the QR code read is valid, otherwise it is not valid.
After that, fingerprint of the voter is checked with the help of the fingerprint reader. If the fingerprint matches with the fingerprint in the main database, it enables the Electronic Voting Machine to poll the vote for that particular voter. Otherwise, the EVM does not accept the vote.
Whenever the QR code is valid, the window of ballot page is opened automatically for a particular constituency corresponding to the voter by finding the constituency of the voter from his/her Aadhaar card. It shows the details such as constituency name of the voter, electors name, image, party sign, and party name of that constituency.
In the existing system, only the ballot unit contains the details of the electors. But in the proposed model, the electors' details are stored in the cloud. This facilitates the voters to poll the vote from any constituency.
After that, the voter can select the desired candidate. The voter's vote is updated to his/her constituency. Similarly, the voting processes are repeated for all the voters.
At the end of the election, the votes were cross checked and the calculations are done automatically. Finally, the result are announced by the Election Commission of India on the same day of the election.
In this section, the authors have explained the hardware and software implementation of the system.
The details of the hardware components used in the proposed system like PIC microcontroller, QR code reader, Fingerprint reader, etc are given in this section.
PIC stands for Peripheral Interface Controller. It is the 40 pin IC and has 5 ports namely A, B, C, D and E. PIC microcontroller is shown in Figure 3. PIC microcontroller acts as a heart for the entire system. In the proposed system, it domesticates the operations of the ballot unit, LED display, QR code reader, and the Finger print scanner. PIC microcontroller receives the input from all other units. This microcontroller controls the entire process. The controller gets the information from the ballot unit, QR code reader and the Fingerprint reader and transfers the information to the PC. PIC microcontroller uses RISC architecture.
Figure 3 .PIC Microcontroller
Some special features include,
QR code is expanded as Quick Response code. QR codes are easily readable bar codes that when scanned with a QR decoder (usually available on smart phones) translates the code into a URL, a telephone number, a bit of text or other data. QR code reader with a sample QR code is shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4. QR Code Reader
To generate a specific QR code, there are plenty of free online programs that can take your data and turn it into a custom- sized code to put on a flyer, a website, a business card and so on.
In the proposed system, cloud storage is used to store the main database which contains all the information of electors and voters. Cloud storage is a service, where data is remotely maintained, managed and backed up. The service is available to the users over a network, which is usually the internet. It allows the user to store files online so that the users can access them from any location via the internet. Cloud storage for various applications is shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5. Cloud Storage
The service provider company makes them available to the user online by keeping the uploaded files on an external server. This gives the companies using cloud storage service ease and convenience. Many of these services are free up to a certain number of gigabytes, with additional storage available for monthly fee.
Popular cloud storage options are,
In the proposed system, Fingerprint reader is used to read the fingerprint of the voter for identification. It is the oldest method, which has been successfully used in numerous applications. Everyone is known to have unique, immutable fingerprints. A fingerprint is made of a series of ridges & valleys on the surface of the finger.
Two main technologies used to capture images of a fingerprint are,
i) Optical - use as light refracted through a prism
ii) Capacitive based-detects the voltage change in skin between the ridges & valleys.
A fingerprint reader is shown in Figure 6. Various types of fingerprint readers are available based on the technology that it uses or its cost.
Figure 6. Fingerprint Scanner
Election plays a key role in governing a democratic country like India. It must be reliable and faithful. Nowadays, wireless transmission plays a vital role in people's life. The proposed module can overcome the disadvantages of traditional voting system. At the same time, this system will be flexible, low cost, reliable, real time, fast and accurate.
In future, voting can be done through the internet. So a person with disability or senior citizen can poll their votes from any place via internet and Wi-Fi technologies i.e., evoting. This will increase the voting percentage and saves more time, man work and cost.