Chennai: :The key person behind development of the Electronic Voting Machine and an eminent writer, S Rangarajan alias Sujatha, passed away in Chennai on Thursday. He was 73. He’s survived by wife Sujatha and two sons.

Rangarajan, who had been suffering from diabetes and had undergone a bypass heart surgery, died of multiple organ failure, doctors at the Apollo Hospital said.

An electronics engineer from IIT, Madras, Rangarajan was General Manager (Research and Development) in Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and was instrumental in designing the EVM extensively used for polls in the country.

He had taken great pains to prove the efficacy of the EVMs a few years back, when suspicions had been raised about the functioning of the machines. Known as Sujatha, he was a pioneer in the field of science fictions in Tamil. He also wrote short stories, novels, screenplays and columns.

In his fictions, the writer imagined a Chennai post-2020, where air-taxis and gigolos would be a common affair. He also ventured into areas of child sex abuse, a concept not much discussed by Tamil society. With about 100 novels and 200 short stories under his kitty, he has served as the editor of a popular weekly Kumudam. His columns in Ananda Vikatan, which discussed a range of issues, enjoyed wide readership.

Sujatha wrote screenplay and dialogues for Rajnikanth-starrer mega hit movie Sivaji The Boss and under-production film Dasavataram featuring Kamal Hassan.

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