Rupture in P5 over UK's 'undemocratic' proposal clinched it for India at ICJ

India's success in knocking UK off its perch at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) involved probably the most concerted and assiduous diplomatic offensive in recent times by India's foreign ministry headed by Sushma Swaraj.
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As the UK decided to withdraw its candidate Christopher Greenwood, there was complete unanimity among government agencies and strategic affairs experts that for the first time India had successfully challenged 'the architecture of dominance' of P5 countries in the Security Council.
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The foreign minister, in fact, made as many as 60 calls to her counterparts across continents in the past few days to boost the case of Indian judge Dalveer Bhandari who finally prevailed over UK's Christopher Greenwood. Foreign secretary S Jaishankar meticulously coordinated India's outreach to the world ahead of the next round of voting which had been scheduled for Monday. On Tuesday, he called all MEA joint secretaries and other top officials to thank them for the effort everybody put in to convince countries around the world to vote in favour of India. MoS MJ Akbar also worked actively to garner support for India's candidate.

"This was a seminal day in Indian diplomacy marking a shift in global perceptions of India," said India's permanent representative to UN Syed Akbaruddin, who received a special mention from Swaraj for his efforts.
It was UK's proposal for a joint conference between the General Assembly and Security Council to break the deadlock which seems to have turned the tide decisively in favour of India. Until then, the P5 countries had been supporting Britain but that support clearly did not translate into an endorsement of UK's proposal for a joint conference. India had described the proposal as undemocratic as it meant stalling the process of voting for election of judge.

"It was the shift in the position of some key P5 countries after UK's proposal that ensured Bhandari's success," said a senior official. Some countries within P5 found it morally impossible to be seen as supporting a joint conference, something which has never been used in the 71-year-old history of ICJ, when India had an overwhelming majority in the Assembly with a coalition of countries from Asia-Pacific to Africa to even Latin America supporting it. In its statement of withdrawal though UK made it a point to mention that this was an 'ideal opportunity' to use the mechanism to break the deadlock.
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This was the first time that a P5 nation was in direct contest with a non-member of the Security Council for the post of a judge at the ICJ. This victory is significant because historically, as former ICJ law clerk points out, seat distribution at the Court has mirrored the allocation of seats at the Security Council. As Kumar says, this could also mean a major shot in the arm for India's bid for a permanent membership of the Council.