FORM-2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2006
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
(See section 10 and rule 13)


ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEM
INF0TEK SOFTWARE & SYSTEMS (P) LTD.
I2IT Campus, P-14, Phase -1, Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park,
Hinjawadi, Pune 411057,
Maharashtra, India

The following specification particularly describes the nature of the invention.


FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of electronic voting systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART
Voting systems are systems that allow voters to cast their vote for a candidate for their choice in an election. The votes are later counted and the candidate getting the highest votes is declared the winner of the election.
The early voting systems were in the form of a physical ballot taking the form of a sheet of paper and a drop box. Plurality of sheets of paper were printed each paper having the name and/or symbol of the candidate and a box before the text for ticking against the name and/or symbol of the preferred candidate. These paper votes then had to be dropped in a secure drop box. After everyone had cast their votes the drop box was opened and the votes were counted manually. This process was very time consuming and also prone to human errors. Hence, there was a need for electronic counting system for minimizing the counting time and for increasing the accuracy. Thus, electronic voting systems evolved.
The electronic voting systems not only increase the accuracy of the counting process but also speed the counting of the ballots. Electronic voting technology includes punch cards, optical scan voting systems and specialized voting kiosks (including self-contained Direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting systems). It also involves transmission of ballots and votes via telephones, private computer networks, or the Internet.

However, the electronic voting systems mentioned above typically do not have efficient measures for controlling frauds like multiple voting. Also, the hardware requirements in these systems is high thus also increasing the cost of implementation of the system, maintenance cost is also high and most importantly these systems have a high failure rate- If the optical scanner fails then the entire voting process for that booth will have to be halted.
Therefore, there is a need for a cost effective system which is less susceptible to failures and also controls frauds in the voting system.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cost effective system for conducting electronic voting.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a user-friendly system for conducting electronic voting.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an efficient system for voting and automatic counting of votes.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a multi-lingual voting system.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a system for voting which requires fewer infrastructures.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a system for voting which requires minimum user intervention.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a system which is scalable for future needs.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a system which is less susceptible to failure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention envisages a novel way of electronic voting using a NFC mobile phone and RFID technology.
According to the present invention, the candidates contesting for elections will have an RFID card which will be printed by the election committee. Specifically, the RFID cards will be printed in English and local language of the members.
Typically, RFID cards have a factory programmed read-only unique ID (UID). According to an embodiment of the present invention, each of the RFID cards will be programmed with the UID of the RFID card and the membership number of the candidate. Particularly, ID and data on the card can be read and written only authorized users through the web application server. Typically, an RFID reader/writer device and RFID printer will be connected to the web application server for the purpose of registering and printing the cards. In addition, the authorized users can also create roles and

register users, admins, polling agents, candidates, voters and the like with the system.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the RFID cards holding the contestant's details will be sent to the polling booths. These cards will be displayed inside the booths. A NFC mobile phone with an embedded application will be provided at the pooling booths. The application embedded in the mobile phone is developed to read the candidates cards. The application embedded in the phone is programmed in such a way that it will read only ONE candidate's RFID card. The phone will have a special casing to protect it against physical damage due to dropping on hard floor. Preferably, the keypad of the mobile phone will also be disabled. Specifically, the NFC mobile will be identified by its IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number. Typically, all transactions will be stored in the phone memory which is sufficient to hold the data of at least ten thousand votes cast.
Preferably, the voters will also be provided with RFID photo identity cards for ensuring that only one vote is cast per user and for eliminating frauds in the voting process.
Typically, when the voters come to the pooling booth he/she is given the NFC mobile phone. The voters will first flash their photo identity cards on the NFC mobile phone. The authenticated voters will be allowed to proceed and cast their votes. Only one vote will be read by the NFC mobile phone. Typically, the time required to read one RFID card will be less than one second. After the votes are cast the voters will handover the phone to the

polling agent responsible at the booth. Particularly, the agent will be carrying a special RFID card which will be used to reset the phone before it is given to the next voter. Typically, the time required to reset the phone will be less than a second. Specifically, the application embedded in the mobile phone will keep a counter of the number of resets which will be equal to the number of votes cast.
According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, typically after the votes are cast the officer responsible for processing the data will open the protective casing of the phone and use his/her security card and password to access the phones application. The data of the votes will be then transmitted and uploaded to the webserver. Based on the IMEI number(s) assigned to the phone and candidates membership number the number of votes are calculated by the webserver.
Typically, the authorized users of the election committee can view the results by logging on to the web application and querying the webserver for the election results.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described in relation to the accompanying
drawings in which,
Figure 1 illustrates schematic diagram of the voting system; and
Figure 2 illustrates a functional block diagram of the voting system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings which do not limit the scope and ambit of the invention. The description provided is purely by way of example and illustration.
According to the preferred embodiment, the present invention will be particularly useful for conducting internal elections based on secret ballot system to elect committee members and delegates at the Lok Sabha and State level.
The present invention envisages a cost effective, easy and efficient system to facilitate electronic voting and automatic counting. The present invention being easily scalable can be applied to any kind of election/polling system.
Referring to the figures, Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings shows a typically voting system. Typically, users of the voting system include an admin, polling agent, users and the like.
Typically, admins are responsible for registering users including candidates contesting for the elections, voters, polling agents, users and the like, providing role based access to each of the users, programming and printing the RFID cards of the voters and candidates, registering the NFC mobile phones as represented by block 10 of Figure 2, retrieving the results of the poll and the like. During registration the polling agents and users are provided with a password to allow role based access to the system.

Typically, polling agents are responsible for authenticating themselves with the NFC mobile phones and resetting the phone after every vote is cast. Authorized users are responsible for accessing the application on the NFC mobile phone and transmitting the vote data to the webserver as represented by block 32 of Figure 2. Typically, authorized users will also be able to log on to the web application on the application server as represented by block 12 of Figure 2, for retrieving information as well as viewing the poll results.
Specifically, the application server will be connected to an RFID reader/writer device and an RFID printer. The application server will also host a web application for facilitating access to the webserver, registration and setting up role based access for users and the like, these registration and access details are stored in the agent repository, as represented by block 24 of Figure 2. The registration and role based access is setup through the role creation module of the webserver as represented by block 16 of Figure 2.
Typically, admin of the system will receive the list of candidates contesting for the elections. Admin on receipt of the list will register the candidate and assign a RFID card for him/her. The registration details will be stored in the poll repository as represented by block 26 of Figure 2, and further the read¬only RFID card is printed with the UID of the card and the membership number of the candidate.
Typically, admin's are also responsible for registering voters with the system. The registration details of the users through the web application are stored in the voter repository as represented by block 28 of Figure 2. After registration, the read-only RFID photo identity cards are printed for the

voters. Typically, these cards can be read only once by the NFC mobile thus ensuring that no multiple votes are cast by the voters and also ensuring that the identity cards are not misused.
Particularly, each NFC mobile will be identified by its IMEI code which will be stored in the poll repository. The NFC mobile will have an embedded application which will read the identity cards and the vote cast by the voters. Typically, the polling agents will authenticate themselves with the NFC mobile for gaining access to the application and for resetting it with a special RFID card each time a vote is cast. The number of resets account for the number of votes cast.
Typically, when a voter comes to the polling booth he/she is given the NFC mobile phone. The voter flashes his/her RFID photo identity card on the NFC mobile phone, the details of the voter and sent to the webserver interface as represented by block 14 of Figure 2, for authentication. If the voter is found valid and no earlier vote is cast by the voter then he/she is allowed to proceed with the polling. Typically, the voter will flash the RFID card of the preferred candidate on the NFC mobile phone to cast his/her vote and then hand over the mobile phone to the polling agent. The polling agent will then reset the NFC mobile phone and give it to the next voter. With each reset the counter within the application embedded in the mobile phone is incremented to show the number of votes cast.
After the voting process is complete typically authorized users will open the casing of the mobile phone and authenticate themselves with the application embedded in the mobile phone. They will then transmit all the vote data to

the webserver. Typically, the vote data includes the IMEI code of the NFC mobile phone, the user id of the voter, the UID of the RFID card, timestamp and the like.
Typically, the data reaches the interface of the webserver and is passed on to a temporary, storage "buffer" as represented by block 18 of Figure 2. The comparator of the webserver as represented by block 20 of Figure 2, will receive the vote data from the buffer and compare the UID of the candidate's card with the information stored in the poll repository and accordingly increase the vote count for the candidate linked with the UID through the counter as represented by block 22 of Figure 2. The total count for each candidate in stored in the results repository as represented by block 30 of Figure 2.
Typically, authorized users can log on to the web application, authenticate themselves through the interface of the webserver and view results of the poll. Typically, the authorized users can request for information on the webserver through the query processor as represented by block 34 of Figure 2. The query processor enables the users to retrieve stored information including results of the poll, number of votes cast, information of users who cast their votes, vote count for each of the candidates and the like.
The technical advance of the present invention includes:
• Providing a cost effective system for conducting electronic voting.
• Providing a user-friendly system for conducting electronic voting.
• Providing an efficient system for voting and automatic counting of votes.

• Providing a multi-lingual voting system.
• Providing a system for voting which requires fewer infrastructures.
• Providing a system for voting which requires minimum user intervention.
• Providing a system which is scalable for future needs.
• Providing a system which is less susceptible to failure.

While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the particular features of this invention, it will be appreciated that various modifications can be made, and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the invention. These and other modifications in the nature of the invention or the preferred embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the invention and not as a limitation.