New Delhi/New York: In a big diplomatic win for India and the Modi government, Justice Dalveer Bhandari was on Tuesday re-elected to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with all but 10 UN member nations backing him, after Britain — a member of the P-5 — was forced to withdraw its candidate amidst high drama in the hard-fought race to the world court.
The victory heralds “winds of change” at the UN and the end of an era of unbridled dominance of the P-5 countries. This is the first time in 70 years, since the UN court's inception in 1946, that a permanent member of the Security Council has lost a seat in the ICJ to a non-permanent member.
Justice Bhandari received 183 of the 193 votes in the General Assembly and secured all 15 votes in the Security Council in the 12th round of voting at the UN headquarters in New York.
Justice Bhandari, 70, was declared re-elected for a fresh nine-year term at the ICJ after Britain withdrew its candidate, Sir Christopher Greenwood, from the race about an hour before the scheduled voting.
