Kolkata , Mar 21 The Election Commission was today accused of discrimination by the Left Front for having heard the Trinamool Congress for 40 minutes, while other parties were given only 10 minutes each during its meetings with political parties here on March 19.

Left Front chairman Biman Bose alleged that"the EC is wearing the garb of neutrality when in practice it is discriminating between parties while giving them a hearing."

Bose, state secretary of CPI(M), also accused the full bench of the EC headed by CEC N Gopalaswamy for not following the alphabetical order while meeting political parties.

"The All India Forward Bloc should have been the first party to be heard instead of All India Trinamool Congress had the EC followed the alphabetical order", he said and demanded an explanation.