The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a Bill to rename ‘Kerala’ as ‘Keralam’, two years after the state Assembly adopted a resolution seeking the change.

The Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026, was introduced by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai in the Lok Sabha on Monday amid Opposition protests over various issues.

In February 2026, the Union Cabinet cleared the proposal after the Kerala Legislative Assembly passed a resolution in June 2024 seeking to change the name of the state from ‘Kerala’ to ‘Keralam’.

The resolution noted that there had been a strong demand since the Independence movement for the formation of a united Kerala for Malayalam-speaking people. “But in the First Schedule to the Constitution, the name of our State is recorded as ‘Kerala’. This Assembly unanimously appeals to the Central Government to take urgent steps as per Article 3 of the Constitution for modifying the name as ‘Keralam’,” the resolution said.

The state government had requested the Centre to amend the First Schedule to the Constitution by changing the name of the state from ‘Kerala’ to ‘Keralam’ under Article 3.

Article 3 of the Constitution empowers Parliament to alter the names of existing states. The proposal to rename Kerala as Keralam was examined by the Ministry of Home Affairs, after which a draft Cabinet note was circulated to the Department of Legal Affairs and the Legislative Department of the Ministry of Law and Justice for their comments. Both departments concurred with the proposal.

On July 1, the Kerala Assembly unanimously approved all 10 clauses of the draft Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026. President Droupadi Murmu had referred the Bill to the Kerala Legislature on June 17 to seek the opinion of the legislators. It was the first time that a Presidential reference had been sent to the Kerala Assembly.