3 Million Women Beneficiaries of TMC Government’s Cash Transfer Scheme Are Ineligible: Suvendu

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, said that around 30 lakh beneficiaries of the state’s Lakshmir Bhandar scheme were ineligible because they were either non-Indians or had their names permanently deleted from the voter list. He made the remarks at a press conference at Nabanna, the state administrative headquarters, while introducing a form for a new scheme called Annapurna Bhandar.

Adhikari said the BJP government had announced Annapurna Bhandar in its manifesto as a replacement for Lakshmir Bhandar, the monthly cash assistance scheme introduced by the previous Trinamool Congress government for women. Under Lakshmir Bhandar, women in the general category received ₹1,500 per month, while women from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities received ₹1,700.

According to Adhikari, beneficiaries of Annapurna Bhandar will receive ₹3,000 per month if they are found eligible. He said women who have applied under the Citizenship Amendment Act, or those who have appealed to an SIR-linked tribunal after adjudication for inclusion in the voter list, will be eligible for the new scheme.

The Chief Minister said the government initially believed the Lakshmir Bhandar list had already been verified, but later found a large number of beneficiaries to be ineligible. He said verification of applications for Annapurna Bhandar will be carried out under the supervision of Women’s Welfare Minister Agnimitra Paul, along with the state chief secretary and finance secretary.

Adhikari also said that because the verification process will take time, existing Lakshmir Bhandar beneficiaries will continue to receive assistance under the old scheme for now. The government has begun issuing application forms for the new programme as part of the transition plan.

The announcement signals a major policy shift in West Bengal’s welfare system, with the ruling BJP government seeking to replace one of the Trinamool Congress’s flagship women’s benefit schemes with its own initiative. The move is likely to draw political attention, given the scale of the beneficiary base and the dispute over eligibility criteria.

The state government has not yet said how long the transition from Lakshmir Bhandar to Annapurna Bhandar will take, or when final payments under the new scheme will begin. For the moment, both schemes will run in parallel while officials review applications and verify eligibility.