India's nominee for the post of UN secretary-general, Shashi Tharoor believes that he can offer a genuine alternative - a candidate who can articulate a positive vision for a UN of the 21st century. In a recent poll Shashi Tharoor has emerged as one of the two top contenders for the post of United Nations secretary-general.

Tharoor, who came a close second to South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon in the first informal straw poll in the 15-member Security Council.

In a statement after getting 10 endorsements behind Moon's 12 Tharoor said that this result marks a good beginning on which he hoped to build in subsequent ballots.

Under a new procedure adopted by the Council, the ballot of each candidate had three boxes - "encourage", "discourage" and "no opinion". The members were expected to check one box. Tharoor scored 10-2-3 as against Moon's 12-1-3.

Of the two other declared contenders, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, who has been endorsed by ASEAN, and Sri Lankan Jayantha Dhanapala finished third and fourth with the scores of 7-3-5 and 5-6-3 respectively, according to diplomats who took part in the secret ballot.

The results of straw polls are officially communicated only to the ambassadors of the countries that have fielded a candidate to enable them to decide whether or not they want their nominee to stay in the fray.

The straw poll marked the beginning of the selection process for the next secretary-general, who is appointed by the UN General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council.

Asia believes its turn has arrived to provide the world's top diplomat, a contention supported by permanent members China and Russia. Asia has not held the job since U Thant of Burma (now Myanmar) retired in 1971.

Current security general, Kofi Annan will retire on Dec 31 after completing two terms.