(Image source from: un.org)

On Wednesday India was one of the 10 non-permanent countries in the world to get elected for the seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

United Nations Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations which is mainly focused on ensuring global peace and security. It comprises of 15 nations from around the world of which 10 are on-permanent nations which are elected every time for the term of two years and the rest 5 are permanent nations from around the world. The 10 no-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly after every term year. The 5 permanent members include China, France, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and the United States of America. The United Nations Security Council is the most powerful arm of the United Nations organization as it can both impose sanctions to the countries around the world as well as intervene in the military process of the nations.

On Wednesday night India got elected as UNSC’s non-permanent members for the term year 2020-21. It got elected unopposed with 184 votes out of the 192 total. This is the 8th time India got elected in the United Nations Security Council. The last time this happened was back in 2011-12. The other 7 times when India won were 1950-51, 1967-68, 1977-78, 1984-85, 1991-92, 2011-12.

Apart from India countries like Kenya, Norway, Ireland, Mexico also won the Security Council elections on Wednesday. Though the arrangements for the elections were not similar, there were special arrangements made to elect not just 5 non-permanent members of the 15 nation body but also for the President of the 75th session of general Assembly and as well as the members of Economic and Socio culture. The special voting was arranged in a special way with certain restrictions due to the global Covid-19 crisis.

The Indian Permanent Representative to UN, T S Tirumurti also expressed his gratitude in a video message saying, “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.”

By Deepika Agarwal