An obscure court battle over the use of Christian political symbols on Wednesday threw into confusion Italy’s rather placid election campaigning by raising the possibility of a forced delay to the mid-April vote.

Giuliano Amato, the interior minister in charge of running the elections, conceded that the elections might have to be postponed after a high court ruled in favour of Giuseppe Pizza, leader of the small Christian Democratic party whose symbol had earlier been rejected for use in the polls.