The foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon on Monday said New Delhi was quite optimistic that its official candidate Kamalesh Sharma would be unanimously elected to the helm of Commonwealth Secretariat.

“We believe it is now the turn of Asia. No Asian has been at the Secretary General’s office ever since Commonwealth Secretariat was set up in 1965,” said Mr Menon. Sharma, a diplomat, is now India’s high-commissioner to the UK. The other official candidate for the top job is the foreign minister of Malta, Michael Frendo.

But also in the fray is another unofficial candidate, who has his origin in India, but is now a citizen of the UK. Mohan Kaul, who at present heads the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC), is also touring extensively seeking support from the members of the 53-nation-body. He even travelled to New Delhi a few weeks ago and called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who, however, expressed his inability to lend him support.