Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Feb 24: In a significant decision ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal to change the name of Kerala to ‘Keralam’, paving the way for constitutional procedures to amend the state’s official name.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that following the Cabinet’s approval, the President of India will refer the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026, to the Kerala Legislative Assembly under the proviso to Article 3 of the Constitution for expressing its views.
After receiving the Assembly’s opinion, the Centre will initiate further action and seek the President’s recommendation for introducing the Bill in Parliament to formally alter the name of the state from ‘Kerala’ to ‘Keralam’.
The proposal comes months after the Assembly, led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, passed a resolution in 2024 urging the Union government to change the state’s name in the First Schedule of the Constitution and in all languages listed in the Eighth Schedule.
On June 25, 2024, the Assembly passed the resolution for the second time after the Union Home Ministry suggested certain technical modifications to the earlier proposal.
Moving the resolution, Vijayan had said that while the state is referred to as ‘Keralam’ in Malayalam, it continues to be written as ‘Kerala’ in the Constitution. He noted that the demand for a united Kerala for Malayalam-speaking people dates back to the freedom movement. “This Assembly requests the Centre to amend it as ‘Keralam’ under Article 3 of the Constitution and have it renamed in all the languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule,” he had stated.
Kerala is expected to go to the polls before May to elect 140 members to the state Assembly. However, the Election Commission of India is yet to announce the poll schedule.
Notably, the Cabinet meeting was held at ‘Seva Tirtha’, the new office of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This was the first Cabinet meeting at the new premises after the Prime Minister’s Office shifted from South Block earlier this month.