Who is Akshaya Hariharan? Tamil Actress claims someone voted in her name in Tamil Nadu Elections

Akshaya Hariharan alleges that her vote was cast by someone else during the Tamil Nadu elections, calling the incident "really shocking" and questioning the process.

Tamil actress Akshaya Hariharan has expressed concern about an unnerving encounter during the Tamil Nadu elections 2026, which took place on April 23. She released a video outlining how she went to vote and was told that someone else had already cast her vote. Akshaya recounted what happened, stating that she had to go to a separate polling station because she had not received her voter slip. What happened next startled her and made her doubt the process.

Akshaya Hariharan describes her voting experience

“Hi I am just here to say that someone else has already casted my vote. It is really shocking. So I am from Velachery (in Tamil Nadu), and I didn't get my vote slip. Then, the details were shared online that my booth was in Adiyar, so I went to Adiyar and waited for an hour and then someone else had already casted my vote. There was another photo of a woman claiming to be 24 year-old, and they put a fingerprint. My second name is Hariharan so everything is correct on the paper but only photos are different. So they should have checked before because how can someone else cast their vote for me?”, Akshaya said in the video which she posed on social media.

Despite the misunderstanding, she stated that she was ultimately able to cast an alternate vote, however the procedure did not leave her satisfied. She added, “Finally after waiting for so much time, I finally cast my tender ballot vote or challenge vote, I am not really sure about that. I don't find it appropriate because it was just a paper and they did not even seal it infront of me. How can you let things like this happen in the first place? No one had answers to my questions. It is really disappointing that things like this is happening… few lawyers have got in touch with me so I took the alternate vote but what I did was the right thing, but I am going to raise a complaint to my nearest RO office.”

She also expressed her thoughts in an Instagram note, stating that the experience was not the same as casting a regular vote. "I don't feel like I actually voted. It is not the same as voting by machine. It's just paper and an envelope. This was the best I could do, though. Please do not squander your vote. "You still have time."

Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, and Trisha Krishnan cast their ballots in Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2026. Meanwhile, some major film industry figures were spotted at polling stations around the state. Rajinikanth was among the early voters, as were Vijay Sethupathi, Dhanush, Vikram, Khushbu Sundar, RJ Balaji, Sivakarthikeyan, Kamal Haasan, Shruti Haasan, Atlee, Radhika Sarathkumar, Sarathkumar, Ilaiyaraaja, Trisha Krishnan, Vishal, R Parthiban, Pradeep Ranganathan, and Arjun Sarja.