Opposition groups protested for a third day on Thursday, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a controversial revision of voter lists.

The INDIA bloc, its student units and the self-named Cockroach youth movement have held near-daily demonstrations in Delhi. They accuse the BJP of using the voter-list revision to fix electoral rolls in its favour. The Election Commission and the BJP have denied the charge.

On Wednesday, Congress said police used brute force to briefly detain Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Vadra and other lawmakers. They were stopped on their way to the Jantar Mantar protest site. Delhi Police rejected the allegation, saying officers follow legal duty and take no illegal action.

A BJP spokesperson called the allegations baseless, saying they had not an iota of evidence. The party accused the opposition of levelling charges without proof.

Protests also spread beyond the capital. Congress supporters marched in Telangana, the RJD demonstrated in Bihar, and hundreds of youth movement supporters protested in Bengaluru. The agitation is the latest political challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his third term.