New Delhi: India secured its place in the International Court of Justice at The Hague after Britain withdrew its candidate ahead of a second run-off poll at the UN on Monday, ending a stand-off that again threw the spotlight on privileges the P5 countries enjoyed in the Security Council.

In Britain, the verdict was seen as evidence of the UK's "shrivelling" presence on the world stage and a result of Brexit.

The Narendra Modi government led the celebrations here, billing the re-election of Justice Dalveer Bhandari as a sign of India's growing clout in the comity of nations.

The UK's permanent representative at the UN, Matthew Rycroft, announced the decision to withdraw its candidate, Sir Christopher Greenwood, citing the "close relationship" between London and New Delhi and in recognition of the fact that further voting was unlikely to break the deadlock.

After the vote went into the run-off stage for the last vacancy in the ICJ on November 9, the second attempt to break the deadlock last week had also ended along the same lines. The British candidate had got a majority in the Security Council while Justice Bhandari secured most of the votes in the UN General Assembly.

The ICJ statute mandates that only candidates who win a majority in both - voting simultaneously but separately - can make it to the court at The Hague.

Once the UK withdrew, Justice Bhandari bagged all the 15 votes in the Security Council where he had been falling short of the necessary majority because of the hegemony enjoyed by the five permanent members - China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.

In the 193-member General Assembly - where India came close to a two-thirds majority in the final round of polling last week - he got 183 votes.

The verdict came around 3 in the morning, but external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted immediately: "Vande Matram - India wins election to the International Court of Justice. JaiHind."

Hours later the Prime Minister tweeted too: "Congratulations to EAM @SushmaSwaraj and her entire team at MEA & diplomatic missions for their untiring efforts that have led to India's re-election to ICJ. Our deep gratitude to all the members of UNGA as well as UNSC for their support and trust in India."

As if on cue, other ministers posted similar messages - celebrating India's victory over a P5 country - and many in the Opposition also joined in as earlier elections of Indians to the 71-year-old court at The Hague had not gone down to the wire.