Congress introduced EVMs, BJP started cheating with it: Ghulam Nabi Azad

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday said that his party introduced EVMs but it was the Narendra Modi government which started "cheating" in the voting machine.

"The Congress had started making use of EVMs because earlier musclemen used to capture polling booths. In our time, EVMs were 100 per cent perfect and reliable. But when Narendra Modi came to power, they started cheating in it too," said Azad.

He said that the BJP government is responsible for the downfall of politics. "Politics these days is all about abuses. Earlier, the main issues were development related but now Mandir-Masjid has taken over."

He also blamed the BJP government's policies for the increase in casualties of the Armed Forces and security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir. "These days Army personnel are dying, the number of casualties of security personnel has increased enormously. Militancy has increased because Prime Minister Modi has created such situations," said Azad.

Six Lok Sabha seats of Jammu and Kashmir will go to polls in five phases commencing from April 11. While Baramulla and Jammu constituencies will go to polls on April 1, voting for the Srinagar and Udhampur constituencies on April 18, Anantnag constituency will go to polls on April 23, 29 and May 6 given the precarious security situation in the south Kashmir region. Polling for the Ladakh parliamentary seat will take place on May 6.