November 21, 2017: India’s nominee to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Dalveer Bhandari has been re-elected to the world court after Britain withdrew its candidate from the election. Justice Bhandari received 183-193 votes in the General Assembly and secured all the 15 votes in the Security Council after separate and simultaneous elections were held at the UN headquarters in New York early this morning.
The elections were held after United Kingdom, in a dramatic turn of events, withdrew out of the race for the Hague-based ICJ. It paved the way for seventy-year-old Bhandari’s re-election to the prestigious world court.
Justice Bhandari and Britain’s Christopher Greenwood were locked in a neck-and-neck fight for re-election for the nine-year term. Earlier in the 11 rounds of voting, Bhandari had got nearly two-thirds of the votes in the General Assembly and in Security Council Greenwood consistently received nine votes as against five for his opponent.
This resulted in a stalemate. It will be the first time since the ICJ was established in 1946 that there will be no British judge.
Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj in a tweet said, Vande Mataram – India wins election to the International Court of Justice. JaiHind.
India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Syed Akbaruddin in a tweet said that the election of Judge Bhandari brings cheer to a billion India’s population. (AIR News)
