The Supreme Court has reserved its judgement on a set of petitions seeking to re-examine the disqualification period for a lawmaker.

“We will try to come up with a shorter order as soon as possible. Probably not today but it will be very soon God willing,” Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa said after the hearing on Friday.

The proceedings were broadcast live on the apex court’s website.

A seven-member larger bench headed by the CJP and comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali conducted a hearing in the case.

The top court seeks to determine the debate on whether politicians disqualified under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution could contest polls in light of the amendments in the Elections Act 2017.

According to Article 62(1) (f) of the Constitution, a person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) “unless — he is sagacious, righteous, non-profligate, honest and ameen, there being no declaration to the contrary by a court of law”.

Under the same law, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified in the Panama Papers case. Ex-premier Imran Khan was also disqualified under the same article in the Toshakhana case last year.

At one point in the case, the CJP observed that Parliament had limited the disqualification period to five years. “We can’t tell Parliament to craft a law this way. This is their job, our job is another job. Is it unconstitutional?”

He said that “someone has applied their minds and made a law” which specifically mentioned all judgements of any court. “So that law has shown us respect” by limiting the time period, he said.

On Thursday, CJP Isa stated that the decision related to the lifetime disqualification was against Islamic principles. He said that acts could be punished “for a particular period” but it did not mean a permanent condemnation.