India ? A local politician was stripped, stoned and beaten to death by a mob during a rally of nearly 500 people in western India, police and party workers said Saturday.

Dynaneshwar Sathawane, a local leader of the ruling Congress party, was campaigning for council elections in Maharashtra state Thursday when a mob of about 150 people attacked him, said local police official Y. Yadav.

While one of his allies addressed the crowd, a mob throwing stones stormed the stage to attack Sathawane, Yadav said.

Other officials on stage escaped, but the crowd pounced on Sathawane and beat him to death with batons and metal rods, Yadav said.

Police have arrested 19 supporters of Shiv Sena, a powerful hardline Hindu party, over the attack. They have not been charged with murder, said state police official P.S. Pasricha. Investigations were continuing.