Rewa: Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker and senior Congress leader Srinivas Tiwari today (Nov 1) alleged that voters in his Mangawan constituency are being paraded at bayonet point in the name of verification of electoral rolls.

"It is perhaps the first time in the country's democratic history that citizens are being treated like criminals and paraded at bayonet point," Tiwari told reporters.

"Poll observers who have come here for verification of electoral rolls are behaving like agents and spokespersons of BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)," he observed.

Tiwari further claimed that the teams carrying out survey in villages have been instructed to take BJP workers along with them and "delete names of voters".

"About 90 per cent of witnesses in the action taken in deletion of names from voters' list are representatives or active workers of BJP," he alleged and said though the situation in Mangawan is as normal as in any other constituency, "action is being taken in the name of verification of voters' list".

Those absent in houses during verification are being given notices of deletion of names from voters' list, without taking into consideration the fact that thousands of people who are employed in fields go out for work during the day, he claimed.

Tiwari also accused the BJP-led Government at the Centre of "trying to tarnish the image of Congress Government in the State and get elections in Mangawan postponed".

PTI