Bhopal: Police used water cannon to disperse Congress workers headed towards Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s residence here on Saturday during a protest against the Patwari recruitment examination “scam”.

A Congress leader said several workers of the party including women members were injured.

The district unit of Congress had called for a protest against the Patwari (Revenue department staffers) recruitment examination in Bhopal, raising questions over the selection process.

Congress MLA PC Sharma alleged several workers, including the party’s Bhopal district president Monu Saxena and women activists, were injured due to force used by the police on Saturday.

Sharma said Saxena was admitted to a hospital due to serious injuries. He said the police used a water cannon on Congress leaders and workers who were protesting peacefully.

Additional Police Commissioner Rajesh Bhadoriya said no force was used against the protestors.

“The water cannon was used to disperse them,” he said.

Asked about the injuries suffered by Congress workers, the police officer said barricades fell on the protesters when they tried to climb them.

On Thursday, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged a scam in a recruitment exam for patwaris and accused the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh of shying away from ordering a probe. Unemployed youth had also protested in several parts of the state, including Bhopal and Indore, against alleged irregularities in the exam conducted during March-April by the Madhya Pradesh Employees Selection Board. Results were declared in the last week of June.

Senior Congress leader and former union minister Arun Yadav on Wednesday called it another “Vyapam scam” and alleged only BJP-backed candidates were selected.

State Home Minister Narottam Mishra, also the spokesperson for the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, had denied the allegations.

Yadav had claimed eight of the 10 candidates selected were from the Gwalior-Chambal division, and seven of them are from a common centre at a college owned by a BJP MLA.

Amid allegations of irregularities, the chief minister on Thursday tweeted: “Doubts are being cast on the Patwari Recruitment Test at one centre. I am putting on hold the appointments to be made based on the recruitment test result. The centre’s result will be re-examined”.

The Congress has demanded a judicial or CBI probe into alleged irregularities in the recruitment exam.