Miss Kerala 2019 was the 20th edition of the Miss Kerala beauty pageant. It was held at Le Méridien, Kochi on 12 December 2019. At the end of the event, Miss Kerala 2018, Pratibha Sai along with actor Shane Nigam crowned Ansi Kabeer as the winner.
On Monday, November 1, 2021, Ansi Kabeer, the winner of the Miss Kerala 2019 pageant, and the first runner-up, Anjana Shajan, tragically died in a car accident near Vyttila, Kochi, Kerala. Their car had flipped over while swerving to avoid hitting a two-wheeler.
This year's Miss Kerala had three phases of digital auditioning, which included social media platforms. The use of social media platforms allowed more people from all around the state to participate in the pageant. The "digital audition" was the first stage of the audition, in which contestants were given a task to complete and then submit it to their social media profiles with the pageant's logo. A judging panel assessed these tasks based on presentation, language competency, confidence, inventiveness, intelligence, and exterior grooming such as hair, makeup, and styling. At the end of each step, contestants were eliminated, and at the end of the first phase, a total of 100 contestants were shortlisted for the third phase. After the last round of auditions, 22 contestants from the Miss Kerala Top 100 were chosen as finalists.
The following are the 22 shortlisted delegates of Miss Kerala 2019:
On the early morning of Monday, November 1, 2021, a tragic car accident claimed the lives of Ansi Kabeer, Miss Kerala 2019, and Anjana Shajan, the first runner-up. The fatal crash occurred on the Vyttila-Palarivattom Bypass in Kochi. The vehicle they were traveling in lost control while attempting to evade a two-wheeler and subsequently collided with a tree, resulting in instant death for both occupants.
The incident took place near the Holiday Inn hotel in Chakkaraparambu. Two other passengers in the car sustained critical injuries and were rushed to the Ernakulam Medical Center (EMC) in Palarivattom for immediate medical attention. The occupants of the two-wheeler involved in the accident suffered only minor injuries.