UNITED NATIONS – India plans to nominate a longtime aide to Secretary-General Annan who currently serves as undersecretary-general for public information, Shashi Tharoor, as its candidate to become the next top man at Turtle Bay, according to several diplomats and reports from New Delhi. The nomination could be problematic for Washington, and at least one nation, Pakistan, is expected to oppose it.

“The government is expected to announce its support [for Mr. Tharoor] soon,” the Times of India reported in its Thursday edition. Diplomats who declined to speak on the record told The New York Sun that the endorsement is expected to be announced in New Delhi as early as today.

The Security Council has started the process of vetting candidates for the position of secretary-general, but the current rotating president of the 15-member body, Denmark’s ambassador to the United Nations, Ellen Margrethe Loj, said debate on the candidates will not begin until July. During the month of June, she said, the council will only collect the names of officially endorsed candidates.

The only government to have thrown its hat in the ring officially so far is Sri Lanka, which announced the nomination of its presidential adviser, Jayantha Dhanapala, in a letter to the council. South Korea is expected to endorse its foreign minister, Ban Ki-moon, and Thailand’s deputy prime minister, Surakiart Sathirathai, also is known to be in the race.

Many at the United Nations have said they believe that, based on the traditional Turtle Bay rotation system, the next secretary-general must come from Asia. Eastern Europe, however, has argued that it has never had a U.N. leader of its own, and America and Britain have officially rebuffed the rotating tradition, arguing for “the best candidate” over a regional one. While not specifically excluding an Asian candidate, Ambassador John Bolton has said in recent interviews, “What about gender rotation?” indicating that America might prefer a woman.

Washington would be hard-pressed to endorse a member of the current U.N. Secretariat like Mr. Tharoor. During a recent luncheon with editors of the Sun, Mr. Bolton said one criterion the Bush administration favors is that the candidate will “come from outside the organization.”

“I placed my energies at the service of the U.N. all my adult life,” Mr. Tharoor said recently. He was in Washington yesterday and was unavailable for comment. Ten years ago, Mr. Tharoor was one of the principal inside activists within Mr. Annan’s successful campaign to become the head of the United Nations. At the time, Washington had pushed to deny the then-secretary-general, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a second term of five years.

In recent months, Mr. Tharoor – normally a high-profile diplomat – has stayed out of the limelight. While some insiders say he has lost his place in Mr. Annan’s inner circle, others say they believe he is actually conducting a stealth campaign to promote himself as the next secretary-general.

Mr. Tharoor recently presided over a General Assembly-mandated annual international seminar in Moscow promoting solutions for the Palestinian Arab situation. As one of the permanent members of the Security Council, Russia’s support is necessary for any candidate vying for the U.N.’s top spot.

India’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nirupam Sen, said yesterday that he was awaiting an official announcement from Delhi. “It will be premature for me to comment,” he said. “Endorsing a candidate is different from choosing a candidate,” he noted. “But at the same time endorsement means that we have made a certain choice.”

Delhi’s campaign for the secretary-general’s post could clash with other U.N. aspirations it harbors. Along with Japan, Germany, and Brazil, India conducted a strong but thus far unsuccessful campaign last year to change the structure of the Security Council, arguing that current world powers should gain permanent council seats. Permanent, veto-wielding seats are currently held only by the five most prominent countries of the post-World War II era.

According to an unwritten Turtle Bay tradition, however, the secretary-general should not come from a prominent regional power – and especially not from one of the council’s main powers. “The process of reform of the Security Council’s permanent membership should continue irrespectively” of the secretary-general’s race, Mr. Sen said.

Pakistan and other neighbors are wary of India’s newest aspirations. “There’s never been a tradition of a large country fielding a candidate,” Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, told the Sun. “Obviously you cannot ask for a Security Council permanent seat as well as the secretary-general’s post.” He also said Pakistan will now “seriously consider” presenting a candidate of its own.