India's nominee to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Dalveer Bhandari was on Monday re-elected to the fifth and the last seat of the world court after Britain withdrew its candidate from the election.
Mr. 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.
The elections were held after United Kingdom, in a dramatic turn of events, withdrew out of the race for the Hague-based ICJ, thus paving the way for Mr. Bhandari's re-election to the prestigious world court.
Mr. Bhandari and Britain's Christopher Greenwood were locked in a neck-and-neck fight for re-election to the ICJ.
The permanent members of the Security Council - USA, Russia, France and China - were understood to have been throwing their weight behind Mr. Greenwood. The UK is the fifth permanent member of the Security Council.
Congratulating Justice Bhandari, the UK said it will continue to cooperate closely with India at the United Nations and globally.
Britain's withdrawal from the election to the prestigious world court would mean that there will not be a British judge on the UN's most powerful court for the first time in its history.
