The UNSC comprises 15 members including 10 non-permanent and 5 permanent members.
The 193-member UNSC holds elections every year to elect five non-permanent members for a two-year term at the UN.
India, one of the founding members of the world body has been elected as a non-permanent member of the Council for 7 times during the years- 1950-1951, 1967-1968, 1972-1973, 1977-1978, 1984-1985, 1991-1992 and most recently in 2011-2012.
The elections for President of the 75th session of the General Assembly, five non-permanent members of the Security Council as well as members of the Economic and Social Council were held under special voting arrangements put in place at the UN headquarters due to COVID-19 related restrictions.
[splco_spacer]
[splco_spacer]
With 184 votes out of the total 192 polled, India which won the UN non-permanent seat for the eighth time has emerged as the single-endorsed candidate from the Asian Pacific regional group, amid the larger push for the country to be made a permanent member of the five-nation apex grouping, currently comprising the US, UK, Russia, China, and France.
On Wednesday night, India was elected unopposed to secure a comfortable victory in the United Nations Security Council elections to join the powerful 15-nation body as a non-permanent member for the 2021-22 term.
“We have received overwhelming support and we deeply humbled by the tremendous confidence that the member states of the United Nations have reposed in India,” T S Tirumurti, the Indian permanent representative to the UN said in a video-recorded message.
“India will become a member of the United Nations Security Council at a critical juncture and we are confident than in the COVID- and the post-COVID world India will continue to provide leadership and a new orientation for a reformed multilateral system,” he added.
Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar also congratulated the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations and the team Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for the “good work”.
[splco_spacer]
