India was on Friday elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council, getting the most votes among all candidates. India will be a member of the council for three years, starting January 1, 2019.

The Human Rights Council has 47 member states, with 18 seats due to fall vacant this year. As there were only 18 contenders, India’s membership was certain.

India will be among the 13 members that represent the Asia-Pacific region on the council. The terms of five of them – Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, the Philippines, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates – will expire on December 31. The Philippines won its bid for a re-election, while Bahrain, Bangladesh and Fiji bagged the other three seats.

Members serve on the council for three years and can have only up to two consecutive terms. India has served two tenures earlier between 2011 and 2017.

India got 188 votes in the Asia-Pacific category when the election was held at the 193-member United Nations General Assembly. Candidates needed at least 97 votes to get elected.

The countries that were elected from other regions were Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Eritrea, Somalia, Togo, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Argentina, Bahamas, Uruguay, Austria, Denmark and Italy.