Context: According to the decision, the elections of non-permanent members to the Security Council and the election of members to the Economic and Social Council will be held simultaneously in June 2020 without a plenary meeting in which India to be re-elected as a non-permanent member of UNSC.
Key Points

• India is set to be re-elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council during the elections in June 2020. India is assured to win from the Asia Pacific seat, as it will be the sole contender. 
• India’s candidature for the Asia Pacific seat in the non-permanent category was unanimously endorsed by the 55-member Asia Pacific grouping including Pakistan and China in 2019. India’s name for non-permanent UNSC seat was proposed by the Asia Pacific countries for a two-year period, from 2021-2022.

 About UNSC Elections

• The UNSC elections to elect the five non-permanent members of the 15-member Security Council for the 2021-22 term will be held on June 17. The dates were announced on June 1, 2020 as France took over the Presidency of the 15-nation Council for the month of June.
• India is the sole candidate for the non-permanent seat from the Asia-Pacific seat for the 2021-22 term.
• Canada, Ireland and Norway will contest elections for the two seats in the Western Europe and Other countries category.
• Mexico is the sole candidate from the Latin America and Caribbean seat.
• Kenya and Djibouti will be contesting for one non-permanent seat of the African group of countries.
• India has been elected as the non-permanent member of UNSC several times previously, 1950 - 1951, 1967 - 1968, 1972 - 1973, 1977 - 1978, 1984 - 1985, 1991- 1992. Its most recent term was from 2011- 2012.
• The UN General Assembly had decided last week to conduct the UNSC elections under new voting arrangements, taking into account restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

 About UNSC:

• The UNSC currently has just five permanent veto-welding members including the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China and France. 
• The council also has 10 non-permanent members and every year the UN General Assembly elects five non-permanent members for a two-year term.

The 10 non-permanent seats are divided on regional basis-

• Five seats for African and Asian States
• Two seats for the Latin American and the Caribbean States
• Two seats for Western European and other States, One seat for the Eastern European States.
• Earlier this month, five nations including Vietnam, Niger, Estonia, Tunisia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines were elected to the UNSC for a two-year term beginning January 2020. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is the smallest-ever nation to secure a UNSC seat.
• Currently, the 10 non-permanent members in the UNSC include Germany,  Belgium, Cote d'Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa,  Indonesia, Kuwait, Peru and Poland.