New UNSC permanent members without veto would be 'second-class': India

India has asserted that any reform of the UN Security Council that creates a new category of permanent members without veto powers would effectively relegate them to “second-class” status, leaving the existing five permanent powers in control of the decision-making process.

China, France, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. are the five permanent members of the 15-member Security Council and enjoy veto powers. The Council also has 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms.

India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, on Monday (October 26, 2026) said the veto must be held by all permanent members of a reformed Council as long as the provision exists, stressing that fairness and justice demand equal rights and responsibilities for all permanent members.

"India's position on the veto is principled and well known... We reiterate that as long as the veto exists, it must be held by all permanent members of a reformed Council," he said.

Addressing the Inter-Governmental (IGN) plenary on 'Cluster Debate on the Question of the Veto' in the UN General Assembly, Parvathaneni said a reform that expands the Security Council by "creating another category of long-term members without the veto effectively makes them 'second-class' members and would not change the decision-making dynamic of the P5".

‘Further complication’

Creating a new category of permanent members, with or without veto powers, would further complicate an already difficult discussion and "entrench the very inequity we are seeking to correct", he said.

"Periodic elections and the concept of permanency are fundamentally contradictory,” the diplomat said.

“History has a lesson for us,” he said, recalling that the only expansion of the Security Council, in 1965, increased the number of non-permanent members from six to 10 while retaining five permanent members.