India Elected Non-Permanent Member Of UN Security Council

India was elected a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for a two-year term on Wednesday, winning 184 votes in the 193-member General Assembly.

Along with India, Ireland, Mexico and Norway also won the Security Council elections held Wednesday.

There were 192 Member States present for voting and the two-thirds required majority was 128. India garnered 184 votes. Canada lost the elections.

India will sit in the most powerful UN organ, for two years beginning January 1, along with the five permanent members China, France, Russia, U.K. and the U.S. as well as non-permanent members Estonia, Niger, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam.

India was a candidate for a non-permanent seat from the Asia-Pacific category for the 2021-22 term. Its victory was a given since it was the sole candidate vying for the lone seat from the grouping.

New Delhi's candidature was unanimously endorsed by the 55-member Asia-Pacific grouping, including China and Pakistan, in June last year.

Previously, India has been elected as a non-permanent member of the Council for the years 1950-1951, 1967-1968, 1972-1973, 1977-1978, 1984-1985, 1991-1992 and most recently in 2011-2012.

The UN General Assembly on Wednesday conducted elections for President of the 75th session of the Assembly, five non-permanent members of the Security Council and members of the Economic and Social Council under special voting arrangements put in place here due to Covid-19 related restrictions.

Turkish diplomat and politician Volkan Bozkir was elected as President of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly. He was the endorsed candidate from among the Western European and other States.

For the two vacant seats from among the African and Asia-Pacific States, Djibouti, India and Kenya were the three candidates. For the one vacant seat from among the Latin American and Caribbean States, one endorsed candidate was Mexico. For the two vacant seats from among the Western European and other States, Canada, Ireland and Norway were the three candidates.

The 15-member Security Council has five permanent members - the U.S., the U.K., France, Russia and China - and 10 non-permanent members.

Each year the General Assembly elects five non-permanent members for a two-year term. The 10 non-permanent seats are distributed on a regional basis as follows: five for African and Asian States; one for Eastern European States; two for the Latin American and Caribbean States; and two for Western European and other States. To be elected to the Council, candidate countries need a two-thirds majority of ballots of Member States that are present and voting in the Assembly.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti had said that India's presence in the Security Council will help bring to the world its ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

"India's journey with the United Nations is quite a remarkable one. As a founding member of the United Nations, India's contribution to implementing the goals of the United Nations Charter and to the evolution of UN specialised agencies and programmes has been substantial. In many ways, quite extraordinary,” Tirumurti said in a video message ahead of the elections.

"I'm confident that at a time when we are poised to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations and later the 75th anniversary of India's independence in 2022, India's presence in the Security Council will help bring to the world our ethos that the world is one family - Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” he said.

India has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the Security Council, saying it rightly deserves a place as a permanent member of the Council, which in its current form does not represent the geo-political realities of the 21st Century.