India elected unopposed to non-permanent seat in UN Security Council

India was elected to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as a non-permanent member from the Asia-Pacific category for a two-year term on Wednesday (June 17) night.

India was elected unopposed as one of the non-permanent member of the UNSC after winning 184 votes in the 193-member General Assembly. The minimum requirement to get elected was 128 votes.

India has served seven times earlier as non-permanent member of the UNSC in 1950-1951, 1967-1968, 1972-1973, 1977-1978, 1984-1985, 1991-1992 and 2011-2012.

“We have received overwhelming support and we 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.

Member States elect India to the non-permanent seat of the Security Council for the term 2021-22 with overwhelming support.

India gets 184 out of the 192 valid votes polled. pic.twitter.com/Vd43CN41cY

— India at UN, NY (@IndiaUNNewYork) June 17, 2020

“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.

India was elected unopposed as it was the only candidate in the Asia-Pacific Group (APG). India has returned to the UNSC after a decade starting January 2021. The last time India served at the UNSC was between 2011 and 2012.

India's election to the UNSC was endorsed in June 2019 by the APG after Afghanistan gave up its seat for India.

The election was held at the UN headquarters in New York which opened for the first time since March 15 due to coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak.

Along with India, Ireland, Mexico and Norway also won the UNSC elections held on Wednesday.

The UNSC has 15 members, includin five permanent members - the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China. The 10 other members are non-permanent and half of them are elected every year, each for a two-year term, starting January 1.