UNSC: India garnered 184 votes out of the 192 ballots cast in the General Assembly to win the election for the non-permanent seat in the powerful United Nations Security Council.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he is “deeply grateful” for the overwhelming support shown by the global community for India’s membership of the United Nations Security Council.
India will work with all member countries to promote global peace, security, resilience and equity, he said.
India obtained 184 votes in the elections for UNSC:
India garnered 184 votes out of the 192 ballots cast in the General Assembly to win the election for the non-permanent seat in the powerful Security Council.
India’s two-year term will begin on January 1, 2021.
This is the eighth time that India will sit at the UN high-table, which comprises five permanent members and 10 non-permanent members.
“Deeply grateful for the overwhelming support exhibited by the global community for India’s membership of the UNSC.,” the prime minister wrote on Twitter.
India will work with all member countries to promote global peace, security, resilience and equity, he said.
India has been elected to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) with an overwhelming majority of 184 votes running on a platform of fighting terrorism and elevating the ethos of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” — the world is one family.
India obtained the Asia Pacific seat on the highest decision-making body of the UN with the unanimous support of the countries in the 55-member group, with China and Pakistan, at least openly, acknowledging support in face of overwhelming backing for India from the others.
Though India ran unopposed from Asia, eight countries presumably did not vote for India in the secret ballot in which 192 of the 193 member nations associated.
After the vote, India’s Permanent Representative T.S. Tirumurti acknowledged the said in a video statement, “We are confident in the COVID and post-COVID world, India will continue to provide leadership and a new orientation for a reformed multilateral system.”
India will serve the UNSC’s eighth two-year term as a non-permanent member without veto powers, even as it pursues on a parallel track UN reforms aimed at getting a permanent seat.
India will replace Indonesia, whose term ends at the end of the year, on the UNSC and join Vietnam as one of the two non-permanent Asian members.
Running uncontested for the seat for Latin American and Caribbean countries, Mexico obtained 187 votes.
Neither Kenya nor Djibouti received a two-thirds majority and a runoff is to be held later.
Kenya, which received 113 votes for the African seat had the endorsement of the continent’s countries, while Djibouti which counted on a rift between the Arab and Non-Arab nations in the group received 78 votes.
The document setting out India’s schedule said that a reconstituted multilateralism is a must for the post-COVID19 era.
Besides combating against terrorism, a priority for India, which historically the most generous contributor of the peacekeeping operations, that the report listed was streamlining UNSC peacekeeping to “ensure greater clarity, direction, and professionalism.”
While discussing the abuse of technology by terrorists, the report said that technology must be promoted with “a human touch” and India will promote partnerships to check it and to reduce human suffering and build flexible communities.
India will step into a Council Chamber paralysed by the polarisation of its veto-wielding permanent members that almost harkens back to the Cold War era.
It will have to tactically deal with stubborn and difficult issues like the Syrian civil war with global dimensions, Ukraine’s conflicts with Russia, the US President Donald Trump’s obsession with Iran or its radioactivity and Yemen where the UN has not been able to act because of the deadlock between the West and Russia and China.
But at least when China tries to bring up the Kashmir issue in the UN’s Security Council as it has done twice recently, India will be right there to give a befitting reply.
