The Election Commission has completed hearing the petitions on the BJP’s CD in Uttar Pradesh polls and CEC N Gopalaswami said in Lucknow today that a decision on the matter would be taken soon, but the controversy is far from over.

The Congress is set to submit a written deposition seeking public apology from the BJP and a CBI enquiry into the “murky episode”, the BJP is keeping the option of a judicial review open, in case of an adverse ruling.

In what is turning out to be a battle of wits between two legal eagles, Kapil Sibal and Arun Jaitley, Sibal put the BJP on the backfoot by producing additional evidence in form of a transcript in which senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (the main signatory of the BJP’s petitions and replies to the EC) allegedly made anti-Muslim comments. This was to prove that the CD released in Lucknow was no isolated incident. But unlike the other complaints — mainly by V P Singh’s Jan Morcha, the BSP and the CPM — the Congress has not sought an immediate derecognition of the BJP under Rule 16 A of Symbols (Reservation & Allotment) Order.

“Derecognition cannot take place without proper investigation of the FIRs (filed by the EC) and the investigation should be done by the CBI, not the state police,” Sibal said.

The BJP has, meanwhile, sent another letter to the EC along with a written copy of their deposition. The letter hints that the party would move court in case the Commission froze its symbol. BJP leaders also said that they would be challenging the legality of 16A of the Symbols Order on the ground that it was an “untested clause”.