President Joe Biden nominated Garcetti, the Mayor of Los Angeles, as the next US ambassador to India on July 9 2021.

After victory in the run-off in Georgia the Democrats now have 51 of the 100 Senate seats, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, speaking to the media aboard Air Force One pre-Georgia result, responded to question about the delay by saying: "As for Mayor Garcetti, we are committed to getting him through the process [of confirmation by the Senate].

"We’re continuing to talk to the Senate on making that happen - that is a priority of ours."

New Delhi is understood to have informally conveyed to Washington that having the post of the US ambassador to India vacant for 23 months does not send out a good signal, the Deccan Herald reports.

This comes at a time when the relationship between the two democracies is seen as being particularly important for both countries amid uncertain relations with China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Garcetti's term as the mayor of Los Angeles will come to its end soon, but he has not had the unanimous backing of Democrat senators, and two of the Republican Party's senators, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, placed a "hold" on the process.

Some Democrat senators have reportedly expressed concerns to the White House over allegations against Garcetti, who was accused of being aware of alleged sexual misconduct of his top aide Rick Jacobs.

Garcetti denied the allegation persistently during a hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his nomination in December 2021.

His team and the White House have, again reportedly, reached out to some Republican senators to seek support.

But a whistleblower, Naomi Seligman, who earlier worked as the communications director at the Office of the Mayor of Los Angeles, urged the US Senate officials to examine the claims further.

This prompted Senator Grassley to conduct a probe which produced a report on May 10 this year that concluded Garcetti was most likely aware of the alleged misconduct by Jacobs.

"India is a very important relationship that we have," Jean-Pierre said, as reported by the Deccan Herald.

"You - you saw the President greet and meet very briefly with Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi just last week when he was in - in Bali. 

"So clearly, it's an important relationship."

But a vote for confirmation of Garcetti’s appointment as the envoy to New Delhi is unlikely to take place in the US Senate soon as it has other pressing matters to deal with.

The Biden administration in October appointed career diplomat Elizabeth Jones as the new acting envoy of to India.

The US Embassy in New Delhi has been headed by acting envoys ever since the term of Kenneth L Juster as the American ambassador to India concluded in January 2021, with the end of the Presidency of Donald Trump.