EC reply to Karat: We are going by procedure

Sharply reacting to CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat’s letter to President A P J Kalam questioning the Election Commission’s handling of the Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy’s office-of-profit petition against 10 of his party MPs, the Election Commission said neither any party nor any individual MP had been singled out and same ‘‘set procedure’’ was followed in all the cases.

Denying Karat’s charge that a case was being made out against the 10 CPI(M) MPs alone by seeking ‘‘additional information’’, sources in the EC said these were only ‘‘allegations’’. It had to ask for ‘‘additional information’’ concerning the dates of when an MP assumed the ‘‘office-of-profit’’ to determine whether the case fell under its purview or not.