Enhancing E-Voting Security with Multi-Factor Authentication Using Fingerprint and Cryptography Protocols in India

The integrity and security of e-voting systems are the core to ensure free and fair elections in any country. As the process involves an enormous, highly diversified population in India, e-voting systems are open to a hugely diversified variety of imminent threats, therefore, extraordinary security measures are incumbent on safeguarding them. This paper deals with the implementation of multi-factor authentication in a manner intended to improve the security of e-voting systems by integrating fingerprint biometrics with visual cryptography and also the state-of-the-art cryptographic protocols. It is proposed that some of these vulnerabilities associated with conventional methods of authentication should be tackled by the use of biometric verification, which can provide each voter with a unique and immutable identity. A detailed survey is presented on the current challenges to e-voting security in India and the battle-hardened limitations of existing systems, providing a compelling case for robust MFA solutions. The proposed system uses fingerprint authentication as its primary factor and further fortifies this with cryptographic methods that ensure confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity of the entire process of voting, right from the voter's end to the final tallying of votes. Finally, it provides end-to-end security from voter authentication to vote-tallying using symmetric and asymmetric encryption, as well as secure hash functions. The approach is tested against common security threats with simulations and practical implementation on voter impersonation, data tampering, and unauthorized access. Our results show that a high degree of enhancement in the security and reliability of e-voting schemes can be achieved by integrating fingerprint-based MFA with cryptographic protocols. This work is, therefore, a part of the modernization and security effort within the electoral process in India and is hopefully going to be one prospective solution for protecting the democratic rights of its citizens.