LUCKNOW, April 12: At least 21 people were killed on Monday in a stampede for free clothes during a function organised to mark a local politician's birthday here, an official said.

Local administrator Aradhana Shukla said that the stampede occurred when people rushed to collect free saris distributed by BJP's Lalji Tandon.

"There are 21 dead. We reached the spot and dispersed the crowd." The dead include 19 women and two children, Mr Shukla said after a visit to the mortuary. Mr Vajpayee, who was in the central Indian state of Jharkhand to address a public rally ahead of national elections, had changed his schedule and was rushing to Lucknow, the constituency from which he would be seeking re-election for a fifth consecutive term, his spokesman said.

The function was organised by a little-known group named the Citizen's Service Society and attended by Tandon, who is seen as Mr Vajpayee's pointman in Lucknow. -AFP