IIT Madras students have conducted India's first-ever student council election using blockchain technology-based software, a feat that has garnered a name in the India Book of Records, and has the potential to positively disrupt the way we hold elections. Initially developed as a CSR initiative with backing from a prominent Indian tech firm and the Department of Science and Technology, the project aimed to tackle COVID-19 challenges, especially in accessing medical records and monitoring health conditions across regions.The software was first used for the student elections in 2022. The team has been steadily working on it to scale it up for general elections on the state and national levels. The software used was developed by students of the Webops and Blockchain Club (W&BC) from the Centre for Innovation (CFI), IIT Madras, India’s largest student-run ‘24/7 innovation lab'. The club harbours an overall goal of using technology as a catalyst for positive social change. Since voting technology is the bedrock of a democratic system, the students were keen on optimising the existing technical infrastructure for voting within the college.  Professor PrabhuRajagopal, Advisor (Innovation and Entrepreneurship), Anirudh Varna, BTech 4th year student, and Vijayaraja R, MS (Entrepreneurship) 2nd year student, all from IIT Madras, are the co-founders of the in-house startup Plenome, which has commercialised this technology. Both governmental and private organisations utilise Plenome's software to manage land and health records.

Source-AI-Generated