India has scored a hat-trick of election wins at the United Nations ahead of the General Assembly’s 75th session, which will be held virtually due to Covid-19 pandemic.

India beat China to win a four-year term on the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women (CWS), a prestigious wing of the world body’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

India also won a seat each, through endorsements, to two other ECOSOC bodies — the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) and the Commission on Population and Development (CPD).

Terms will begin 2021 when India will also start its two-year stint on the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member.

“India wins seat in prestigious #ECOSOC body!” T S Tirumurti, India’s permanent representative to the UN, announced in a tweet on Monday.

“India elected Member of Commission on Status of Women #CSW. It’s a ringing endorsement of our commitment to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in all our endeavours.”

Elections to the two other bodies were announced in a follow-up tweet by the K Nagaraj Naidu, the deputy permanent representative, on Tuesday. “India gets elected to three #ECOSOC bodies,” he wrote.

India, Afghanistan and China were in the fray for the two seats to the CWS from the Asia-Pacific group. With all 54 members of the Economic and Social Council voting, Afghanistan and India were elected with 39 and 38 votes respectively. China ended with 27, one short of the cut-off tally of 28.

Others who also went through were Argentina, Austria, Dominican Republic, Israel, Latvia, Nigeria, Turkey and Zambia.

The CWS is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. It was established in June 1946 as a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council.

The CPC is the main subsidiary organ of the ECOSOC and the UN’s General Assembly for planning, programming and coordination. The CPD describes itself as a functional commission that assists ECOSOC in the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development.

The General Assembly started its historic session on Tuesday, but the general debates, which are scheduled to start on September 22, will be held virtually because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

New York, where the UN is headquartered, was the hardest hit city anywhere in the world, though things are far better now.

Leaders of member states will address the assembly through pre-recorded videos, which will be presented at the debate by their respective delegations. Other meetings of the world body will follow the same format.