More than one lakh people had gathered for BSP chief Mayawati's rally in Lucknow for UP elections.
At least three people have died and 28 injured after a stampede at the Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati's rally in Uttar Pradesh. Hundreds are still searching for their friends and relatives in and around the rally site. Among those missing are 15 children, said police sources.
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More than 1 lakh people were present at the huge grounds - the Kanshi Ram Memorial at the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar ground in Lucknow.
While they were on their way out after Ms Mayawati's address, there was immense confusion.
With BSP having a huge support base among the Dalits, it is mostly the poorest of the poor who attend its rallies.
Ambulances found it difficult to access the area as the people, desperate to leave the rally site, blocked the roads, sources said. Doctors have been rushed to the spot.
The injured have been given first aid and preliminary medical treatment at a clinic set up by a hospital run by a charitable trust and sent to hospitals around the rally sites.
Earlier, a woman had died at the rally. The BSP's state chief Ram Achal Rajbhar said she had died due to the heat and humidity.
The political leaders had left the site before the function had ended.
In her speech, Ms Mayawati -- whose party is trying to capture power from the ruling Samajwadi Party in next year's assembly elections -- took on the Narendra Modi government in Lucknow, saying it was spreading hatred and communalism in Uttar Pradesh and has failed to keep its promises for the state.
"Dalits are being targeted in various parts of the country in the name of cow protection," said the BSP chief. The BJP government, she said, has proved that it is not the government of the farmers and the poor but only the government of the rich and successful.
Over the last few months many of her party men have joined the BJP.
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