India has asserted that all permanent members of a reformed United Nations Security Council (UNSC) must have veto powers for as long as the provision exists, warning that creating a new category of permanent members without the same authority would perpetuate inequality within the global body. India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, made the statement during a United Nations General Assembly debate on the question of the veto on Monday. He said that permanent membership without veto rights would leave new members with a secondary status and fail to change the existing balance of power in the Council.

Parvathaneni reiterated India’s long-standing position that equal rights and responsibilities must apply to every permanent member of an expanded Security Council. He argued that introducing long-term seats without veto powers would not meaningfully alter the decision-making structure, as the existing five permanent members would continue to retain their special authority. “As long as the veto exists, it must be held by all permanent members of a reformed Council,” India’s envoy said, underlining New Delhi’s demand for a more equitable system of international decision-making.

The UNSC currently has 15 members, comprising five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — and 10 non-permanent members elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms. The five permanent members possess veto powers over substantive resolutions, allowing any one of them to block a proposal even if it receives sufficient support from other Council members. The system was established when the United Nations was founded in 1945, reflecting the international power structure that emerged after the Second World War. India has argued that the arrangement no longer adequately represents present-day geopolitical realities or the interests of a broader international community.

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India has consistently called for expanding both permanent and non-permanent membership rather than increasing only the number of elected seats. New Delhi maintains that expanding the non-permanent category alone would leave the central decision-making authority concentrated among the existing five permanent members. It has also argued that reforms must improve representation for developing countries and regions that remain underrepresented in the Council. India has been campaigning for a permanent seat for years, saying a restructured Council should better reflect changes in global politics and the growing membership of the United Nations since 1945.

The Indian envoy also stressed that the veto should be treated as a responsibility rather than an instrument for advancing narrow political interests. India has raised concerns about the repeated use, or threatened use, of veto powers by some permanent members and questioned whether existing mechanisms have sufficiently improved accountability. In 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 76/262, which provides for a General Assembly meeting following the exercise of a veto in the Security Council. India has maintained that the mechanism has not brought about the expected change in how veto powers are used.

Parvathaneni further called for comprehensive reform negotiations covering membership categories, regional representation, the Council’s size, working methods and the veto. India has urged member states to begin text-based negotiations with clear timelines and milestones, arguing that reforms pursued in separate stages could fail to address the structural problems together. New Delhi has also pointed to informal practices that can allow individual members to block certain Council outcomes, including statements and decisions involving sanctions committees. India’s latest intervention reinforces its position that a reformed Security Council must be more representative and transparent, with equal rights for all permanent members if the veto system is retained.

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