The United Nations headquarters

New York, Feb. 20: When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh goes to Washington in April to meet President Barack Obama and at least 40 other world leaders, there will be a new spring in his footsteps.

For all practical purposes, he will rub shoulders with global leaders at the White House as a member of the UN Security Council, adding weight to India’s current standing as a member of the Group of Eight (G8) nations, the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate and a host of other international platforms which are testimony to the country’s rise as a big power.

India’s election to a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the Security Coucil is now a mere formality, according to diplomats at the UN headquarters from every geographical group from Asia and Africa to Latin America and Europe.

This follows Kazakhstan’s decision to give up a campaign it has been waging for more than a decade for the Asian seat in the Security Council for a two-year term from January 1, 2011.

No other Asian country has stepped into the breach created by Kazakhstan’s withdrawal from the race and UN diplomats here estimate that India is now unlikely to face any rival for the Asian seat before the election takes place in the General Assembly towards the end of this year.

Technically, it is still possible for a rival to emerge for the Asian seat, but it is improbable: countries often announce their intention to contest several years in advance to effectively mobilise support among the UN’s 192 members.

Although India is now expected to be the sole candidate for the Asian seat that will fall vacant in just over 10 months, it still needs 129 votes in the General Assembly. That figure represents two thirds plus one of the UN members who are eligible to vote in the election.

Diplomats from diverse regions at the UN privately say in a tribute to the campaign India's Permanent Mission to the UN here has waged in recent months that New Delhi’s tally will significantly exceed that figure.

If it does, the endorsement of New Delhi by the international community will compensate for a humiliating setback when India last tried for a seat in the Security Council.

That was just over 13 years ago when Japan trounced India, leaving it licking its wounds in a bruising election in which New Delhi secured merely 40 votes.

The shock from that defeat so unnerved South Block’s diplomats that for close to a decade India did not dare to contest in most elections in the UN system.

However, in the last few years, New Delhi has retrieved lost ground and has won many UN slots in tandem with its rise as an emerging global power.

A sweeping endorsement by the General Assembly in the election to the Security Council that is widely anticipated now will be a jewel in the crown in India's new role on the world stage.

UN diplomats are now talking of a distinct possibility that, once India takes its elected seat on January 1 next year, the victory may eventually lead to a permanent seat for New Delhi in the Security Council by the end of its two-year term.

This follows the endorsement two months ago by 140 UN members of a proposal for text-based negotiations on expanding the Security Council.

A letter seeking such negotiations has been submitted to Zahir Tanin, Afghanistan's permanent representative to the UN, who is chairman of the inter-governmental talks on increasing the membership of the Security Council on a permanent basis.

According to diplomats from every geographic region who signed the letter which has more than two-thirds support in the General Assembly, it is a major step towards reviving the process of expanding the Security Council, which was stalled after its momentum in 2004.

When India is elected to a non-permanent seat at the end of this year, it will take its seat along with two other Ibsa (India-Brazil-South Africa) members, representing a clear vindication of New Delhi’s determination in recent years to forge new alliances on the global stage with other emerging powers.

The African Union has just endorsed South Africa’s bid, like India’s, for an elected seat from January next year from Africa’s quota in the Security Council.

Brazil is already on the Security Council on a two-year term ending on December 31, 2011. Japan holds an Asian seat in Security Council, which India will take after its election.

Germany is a candidate for a European seat, but the outcome of the election is uncertain with two other contenders from its geographical group.

However, if India and Germany are in the Security Council next January, and with Brazil already a member, three of the so-called Group of Four (G4) will be working together in the Council, easing fears among the big powers about these countries taking permanent seats in the body.

Japan has already demonstrated its responsible role as a member since January 1 last year.

India, Japan, Brazil and Germany, which make up the G4, continue to be the main engines for Security Council reform which is once again emerging as a prospect during the potential presence of three of its four constituents at the UN’s high table next year.