Pakistan's President stripped of power of assembly dissolution

The power to dissolve the assemblies has been taken back from President of the State and the governors, as National Assembly is giving section-wise approval of the Constitutional Reforms Bill, Geo News reported Thursday.The first of all, the 17th Amendment was abolished with consensus. Also, the name of the NWFP was changed to Khyber Pakhtoonkhaw. Now, the House adopted the amendment regarding the annulment of the power of the President and governors regarding the dissolution of the assemblies.
The NA session, presided over by Speaker Dr Fahmida Mirza, began proceedings with the Section-2 of the Bill, which was adopted with 258 votes of support; while, no one opposed it.The members of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) tabled two amendments on the Section-3 of the Reforms Bill relating the name of the NWFP; the House jettisoned the PML-Q’s amendments with majority.Section-3 was approved with 264 votes; however, the members of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) did not take part in the voting.Also, the Section-4 of the Bill has been adopted with consensus to amend the Article-6 of the Constitution relating the suspension of the Constitution and its subsequent validation by the court.Also, the Section-5 of the Bill has been adopted with consensus to amend the Article-10 of the Constitution.The Section-17 also has been unanimously adopted to amend the Article-58 of the Constitution; under this, the President of the State and the governors have been divested of the power to dissolve the assemblies. This power has now been delegated to the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers and the President and the governors would act on their advice in this connection.Besides, Section-19 was approved to amend Article-61 of the Constitution and Section-18 was approved regarding setting aside at least four seats for women.Section-20 was approved to amend Article-62 relating the eligibility of the Parliamentarians and Section-21, 22 were approved for the amendment in Article-63 regarding the ineligibility of the public office.