New Delhi, June 3: The CPM today stepped up the heat on the Election Commission, accusing it of bias while dealing with its MPs in the office-of-profit issue.

The party has asked the poll panel to stop disqualification proceedings against all its MPs.

After President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam returned the office-of-profit bill to Parliament with queries, the poll panel was reported to have put complaints against 45 MPs and 200 MLAs on the fast track. Eleven of the MPs are from the CPM.

Today, CPM leader and former MP Nilotpal Basu pointed out that the Election Commission had dropped a case against a BJP Rajya Sabha MP immediately after his term expired, whereas “our names continue to be displayed on the website”.

Talking of his own case ? Basu is accused of holding an office of profit ? the CPM leader said that like the BJP MP, he too had retired and yet the case against him was not dropped.

“We are constrained to come to the conclusion that the EC is biased,” Basu said. “Even when the EC itself has said it has no material, far less evidence, to start an inquiry into the issue, our names have been put up on its website.”