India's permanent representative to UN Syed Akbaruddin

NEW DELHI: A key piece of research dug out after hours of pouring over UN voting records by a diligent junior official at India's permanent mission was instrumental in India torpedoing UK's unprecedented proposal for a Joint Conference mechanism to break the International Court of Justice ( ICJ ) deadlock.India's permanent representative to UN Syed Akbaruddin told TOI that the research by the official (name withheld on request) showed that in 1978, 2011 and 2014, ICJ elections were held over more sessions, more meetings and more rounds of ballots than in 2017. In the Dalveer Bhandari-Christopher Greenwood direct face-off, only 6 rounds of voting had been held.The contest between Bhandari and Greenwood was running its normal course until UK, as first reported by TOI on Sunday, added drama to it by proposing at an informal discussion of the Security Council that a Joint Conference of the Council and General Assembly be formed - and the voting stalled - to break the deadlock. Britain feared more rounds of voting would lead to Bhandari acquiring over 2/3rd support in the Assembly. Just how India fought off this proposal in the last 72 hours is the real story behind the re-election of Bhandari.Akbaruddin parried UK's proposal by laying out the research findings that in 1978 the Security Council had voted in 14 rounds, in 2014 the GA had voted in 15 rounds and in 12 rounds in 2011 without invoking any other mechanism."The findings also indicated that in each of the past elections final results were only at culmination of 4 sessions. And so there was no reason to go for a new mechanism even before the end of the 4th session," Akbaruddin told TOI.For India, ousting a P5 from its perch despite all other Permanent Members joining in support (they had together voted for Greenwood) is nothing short of historic. "Simply put it has never ever happened before. It is therefore testimony of change that is underway. It shows that change is discernible and happens, if not by design then by chance," said India's top official at the UN."It is an acknowledgement that most countries recognise that India has credentials as a country for which space can be provided on important multilateral platforms. It reflects India's ability to harness broad based coalitions along a common vision of a more inclusive, open architecture of multilateralism that is appealing to large number of States," he added.Akbaruddin was humble in victory as he said the resolution of the issue with UK within a framework of common values that reflected "the democratic spirit of the times" indicated a certain maturity of approach."This approach allows for tough hard-nosed tactics during negotiations coupled with ability to arrive at solutions that leave space for collaboration and cooperation once the outcome is decided," he said.Britain too was gracious in defeat, acknowledging the significance of its bilateral ties with India, even though it bowed out saying that this was "an ideal opportunity" to hold a Joint Conference to break the deadlock. But, as Akbaruddin said, researching years of election proceedings of the ICJ going back to several decades helped India outwit UK on that unprecedented move.