Scottish politician marries Kerala-born wife again, this time in Guruvayur
Martyn Day and Nidhin Chand hold traditional ceremony a decade after their UK wedding
Scottish National Party politician Martyn Day and his Kerala-born wife Nidhin Chand have celebrated their marriage with a traditional ceremony at Guruvayur, a decade after the couple first married in the UK.
The ceremony fulfilled a long-held wish of Nidhin, who hails from Piravom in Kerala’s Ernakulam district, NDTV reported.
Day, 55, a member of the Scottish Parliament, and Nidhin held the traditional ceremony on Tuesday at an auditorium in the Guruvayur temple town, with close relatives and friends in attendance.
The couple also visited the famed Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple as part of the celebrations.
Day later shared photographs from the wedding celebrations on Facebook and Instagram, showing the couple dressed in traditional attire.
A wish delayed for years
The couple had already married in the UK in 2016, but Nidhin had wanted to mark their marriage with traditional rituals at Guruvayur, according to NDTV, citing PTI.
Those plans were repeatedly postponed. The devastating Kerala floods of 2018 and, later, the Covid-19 pandemic were among the circumstances that prevented the couple from travelling to Kerala for the ceremony.
A decade after their first wedding, they were finally able to fulfil that wish this week.
Who is Martyn Day?
Day is a veteran politician with the Scottish National Party who has represented the Linlithgow area at different levels of government.
He began his political career in local government, winning election to West Lothian Council in 1999. In 2015, he entered the UK Parliament after being elected MP for Linlithgow and East Falkirk.
Day remained in the House of Commons until 2024 and held SNP frontbench responsibilities, including roles related to health and social care.
He returned to elected office in the 2026 Scottish Parliament election, winning the Falkirk East and Linlithgow constituency. He currently serves on the Scottish Parliament’s Climate Action Committee and its Economy, Tourism and Energy Committee.
Before entering politics, Day worked in banking.
Who is Nidhin Chand?
Nidhin moved from Kerala to the UK in November 2008 to pursue higher education and later completed a master’s degree in IT management.
Her path eventually crossed with Day’s through an immigration issue affecting international students in Britain.
While Nidhin was pursuing her PhD, changes to immigration rules resulted in the cancellation of thousands of student visas, including hers. She subsequently became involved in efforts to represent affected Indian students, lobbying Parliament and appearing before committees.
It was through those efforts that she met Day, who was then the MP for Linlithgow and East Falkirk.
The relationship developed and Day proposed in May 2016. The couple married later that year in Britain.
Ten years later, their celebrations have now come full circle in Kerala, with the traditional Guruvayur ceremony Nidhin had hoped for since their marriage.
