diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/PrimaryShardAllocator.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/PrimaryShardAllocator.java
index f6b20b7dfb581..4dc9396751fc9 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/PrimaryShardAllocator.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/gateway/PrimaryShardAllocator.java
@@ -313,8 +313,9 @@ private static ShardStoreInfo shardStoreInfo(NodeGatewayStartedShards nodeShardS
         NodeGatewayStartedShards::primary
     ).reversed();
 
-    private static final Comparator<NodeGatewayStartedShards> HIGHEST_REPLICATION_CHECKPOINT_FIRST_COMPARATOR = Comparator.nullsLast(
-        Comparator.comparing(NodeGatewayStartedShards::replicationCheckpoint)
+    private static final Comparator<NodeGatewayStartedShards> HIGHEST_REPLICATION_CHECKPOINT_FIRST_COMPARATOR = Comparator.comparing(
+        NodeGatewayStartedShards::replicationCheckpoint,
+        Comparator.nullsLast(Comparator.naturalOrder())
     );
 
     /**
@@ -387,9 +388,9 @@ protected static NodeShardsResult buildNodeShardsResult(
 
         /**
          * Orders the active shards copies based on below comparators
-         * 1. No store exception
-         * 2. Shard copies previously primary shard
-         * 3. Shard copies with highest replication checkpoint. This comparator is NO-OP for doc rep enabled indices.
+         * 1. No store exception i.e. shard copy is readable
+         * 2. Prefer previous primary shard
+         * 3. Prefer shard copy with the highest replication checkpoint. It is NO-OP for doc rep enabled indices.
          */
         final Comparator<NodeGatewayStartedShards> comparator; // allocation preference
         if (matchAnyShard) {
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/gateway/PrimaryShardAllocatorTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/gateway/PrimaryShardAllocatorTests.java
index 9982bb0d71f4f..3c39ec9f03b2a 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/gateway/PrimaryShardAllocatorTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/gateway/PrimaryShardAllocatorTests.java
@@ -272,6 +272,39 @@ public void testPreferReplicaWithNullReplicationCheckpoint() {
         assertClusterHealthStatus(allocation, ClusterHealthStatus.YELLOW);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Tests that null ReplicationCheckpoint are ignored
+     */
+    public void testPreferReplicaWithAllNullReplicationCheckpoint() {
+        String allocId1 = randomAlphaOfLength(10);
+        String allocId2 = randomAlphaOfLength(10);
+        String allocId3 = randomAlphaOfLength(10);
+        final RoutingAllocation allocation = routingAllocationWithOnePrimaryNoReplicas(
+            yesAllocationDeciders(),
+            CLUSTER_RECOVERED,
+            allocId1,
+            allocId2,
+            allocId3
+        );
+        testAllocator.addData(node1, allocId1, false, null, null);
+        testAllocator.addData(node2, allocId2, false, null, null);
+        testAllocator.addData(node3, allocId3, true, null, null);
+        allocateAllUnassigned(allocation);
+        assertThat(allocation.routingNodesChanged(), equalTo(true));
+        assertThat(allocation.routingNodes().unassigned().ignored().isEmpty(), equalTo(true));
+        assertThat(allocation.routingNodes().shardsWithState(ShardRoutingState.INITIALIZING).size(), equalTo(1));
+        assertThat(
+            allocation.routingNodes().shardsWithState(ShardRoutingState.INITIALIZING).get(0).currentNodeId(),
+            equalTo(node3.getId())
+        );
+        // Assert node3's allocation id should be used as it was previous primary
+        assertThat(
+            allocation.routingNodes().shardsWithState(ShardRoutingState.INITIALIZING).get(0).allocationId().getId(),
+            equalTo(allocId3)
+        );
+        assertClusterHealthStatus(allocation, ClusterHealthStatus.YELLOW);
+    }
+
     /**
      * Tests that replica with highest segment info version will be selected as target on equal primary terms
      */