India re-elected to UN Economic and Social Council

India on 29 October 2014 was re-elected to United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). India's term at ECOSOC was scheduled to end in 2014.

Apart from India, the other countries which were re-elected are Austria, Burkina Faso, France, Germany, Greece, Japan and Portugal.
India was re-elected after getting 183 votes, the highest in the Asia Pacific group, followed by Japan and Pakistan with 181 votes each.
India had competed in the Asia-Pacific group in which four seats were up for election and it received 162 votes, the highest number in the Asia-Pacific group.
Besides, the General Assembly also elected 10 other members in addition to the re-elected members. The countries which were elected are Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Japan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

These 18 countries were elected to replace the 18 outgoing members. They are Austria, Belarus, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lesotho, Libya, Nigeria and Portugal. These 18 elected members will serve three-year terms. The term will begin from 1 January 2015.

Committee for Programme and Coordination

The General Assembly also declared 13 States nominated by the Council, namely Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Namibia, Iran, Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine, Brazil, Cuba, Uruguay, Venezuela and Italy.
These members were elected by the UNGA for the Committee for Programme and Coordination — the main subsidiary organ of the Council and the Assembly for planning, programming and coordination.  Their three - year term of office would begin on 1 January 2015.

Selection Pattern
The new members were elected according to the following pattern:
Five from African States; three from Asia-Pacific States; one from Eastern European States; four from Latin American and Caribbean States; and five from Western European and other States.

The UN Economic and Social Council

The UN Economic and Social Council comprises of 54 member countries. Other than the newly elected countries, the other countries are Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Canada, China, Colombia, Congo, Croatia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Georgia, Guatemala, Haiti, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritius, Nepal, New Zealand, Panama, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, South Africa, Sudan, Sweden, Togo, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom and the United States.