India on Monday re-nominated Justice Dalveer Bhandari as its candidate for judge at the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, PTI reported on Tuesday. Bhandari was first elected to a seat in the ICJ in April 2012 during simultaneous balloting in both the UN General Assembly and the Security Council, and finishes his current term in February 2018.
India filed Bhandari’s re-nomination with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, well ahead of the July 3 deadline. The ICJ elections will be held in November. If Bhandari is re-elected, he will serve an additional nine-year term as an ICJ judge.
During his first term, Bhandari had delivered opinions in eleven cases covering subjects such as maritime disputes, whaling in Antarctica and genocide. He was a High Court judge for 20 years, as well as a senior judge of the Supreme Court.
The ICJ comprises 15 judges by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council. In order to be elected, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of votes in both bodies. Also, no two ICJ judges can be of the same nationality.
The ICJ had on May 18 arbitrated a case brought to it by India, of Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was arrested in Pakistan and sentenced to death for allegedly being a spy. The ICJ had ruled in favour of India, suspending the death penalty handed to Jadhav.
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