Not a bhar of cha at the corner stall, but coffee at a New Town cafe. That, in many ways, is how West Bengal seems to have voted in the 2026 Assembly Elections. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) lost badly to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which came to power in West Bangal for the first time. While the SIR didn’t favour Mamata much with the numbers on the voting day, and as a poll plank. Importantly, the TMC’s flagship cash-transfer scheme, Lakshmir Bhandar, on which Mamata consolidated women voters and won elections, ended up as a flop.
Without much to show the people during campaigns, the TMC made its social welfare schemes, like Lakshmir Bhandar, its major poll plank. But going by the BJP landslide, women of West Bengal certainly didn’t care much about the bird in hand, the Lakshmir Bhandar, and Mamata’s other schemes like the Kanyashree.
The Lakshmir Bhandar promises a cash support of Rs 1,500 a month secured for the women of the state. An erosion in Mamata Banerjee’s personal appeal, made the party turn to the much-touted scheme. But, the women in Bengal (who voted two percentage points more than the men), many of them who were once steadfast supporters of Mamata and the TMC, seem to have now sided with the BJP.
In April 2025, when a delegation of the National Commission for Women, led by its chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar, visited West Bengal’s Murshidabad district after communal clashes (which claimed three lives), villagers were seen holding placards that said, “We don’t want Lakshmir Bhandar, we want BSF camp. We want security,” and, “We are under attack,” reported news agency PTI.
Now days after the BJP’s landslide victory, Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday took oath as the party’s first Chief Minister in Bengal. The ceremony was a massive show of strength that saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, most of the Union Cabinet, and the NDA chief ministers, in attendance.
BENGAL WOMEN CHOSE SECURITY OVER MAMATA’S CASH-TRANSFER SCHEME
The people of Bengal chose the BJP’s Potiborton over the continuity of the TMC, and the cushioning Mamata’s schemes provided to households. Around 72,000 women received Lakshmir Bhandar in one constituency alone, alongside other schemes, according to a post on X by the TMC. A bird in hand, the Rs 1,500 per month, was what the women of Bengal didn’t go with.
The BJP manifesto said a government of the party would give Rs 3,000 per month to women of Bengal under Annapurna Bhandar. Now, the electorate has turned against the tested and celebrated Lakshmir Bhandar scheme of the TMC, even after it promised to hike the handout.
Mamata’s promise of “a lifetime entitlement through the Lakshmir Bhandar” failed to discount the discontent with the TMC government, and also fell short of the BJP’s counter- Annapurna Bhandar-offer in monetary terms.
Social media videos from across Bengal before the polls showed women doing back-of-the-envelope calculations on which party’s promised cash benefits would add up to more, saying they would side with whoever offered the higher payout. While it wasn’t just about money, a host of factors, like Sandeshkhali and the RG Kar case, dented Mamata Banerjee’s image among women voters.
The mother of RG Kar rape-murder victim and BJP candidate Ratna Debnath won her seat against her nearest rival from the Trinamool Congress.
Women’s safety and security, alongside the threats from illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, became the core issues of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election. The BJP focused more on women’s safety even as it promised welfare schemes.
WHAT WERE MAMATA BANERJEE’S WELFARE SCHEMES?
The TMC’s Lakshmir Bhandar had been a big talking point throughout the poll campaign. Long-lost earthen piggy banks (maatir bhaar in Bangla, gullak in Hindi) appeared with paintings on them. Lakshmir Bhandar’s dares were thrown across party lines. Mamata led the charge claiming that the BJP would shut the scheme down, if voted to power.
Alongside Lakshmir Bhandar, a wider web of schemes like Rupashree, Kanyashree, Yuva Sathi, and Swasthya Sathi was flaunted by the TMC to further reinforce support for Mamata Banerjee. These schemes affect lakhs of households at multiple levels.
But the women voters of West Bengal read from the BJP’s script. While a Kolkata woman “thanked Mamata Banerjee for helping fund her daughter’s wedding”, some ground reports revealed that they didn’t need these doles and would rather have jobs. Many of them had hinted at their backing for the BJP. Lakshmir Bhandar failed to take a front seat and woo woman voters, which the TMC flaunted.
WHAT IS LAKSHMIR BHANDAR OF THE WEST BENGAL GOVERNMENT?
The Lakshmir Bhandar is the TMC government’s flagship direct benefit transfer scheme for women. The scheme provides financial help to women from economically weaker sections. After the hike announced earlier this year, women in the general category receive Rs 1,500 each month, and women from the SC and ST communities receive Rs 1,700 per month.
Launched by the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in 202, Lakshmir Bhandar has yielded major electoral results. It helped the TMC secure a comfortable victory in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections. Lakshmir Bhandar was also credited with consolidating the TMC’s position in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well. As the 2024 poll battle hotted up in Bengal, the TMC’s number two, Abhishek Banerjee, in March dared the BJP to launch schemes like Lakshmir Bhandar in BJP-ruled states. He announced a doubling of entitlements from April 2024. It also alleged that the BJP would stop the scheme if voted to power. BJP leaders (including Amit Shah and Suvendu Adhikari) responded by promising a hike.
Form fill-up for the scheme began amid the heightened SIR and election-year activity.
By early 2026, with over 2.2 crore beneficiaries and cumulative spending of around Rs 74,000 crore, Lakshmir Bhandar became a core political asset for TMC ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls. Ahead of 2026 polls, the TMC government announced a Rs 500 hike in the interim budget.
The BJP replied with a women’s aid scheme of Rs 3,000 per month. The BJP, in power in the Centre, then, pushed to add extra seats in Parliament and reserve 33% of the seats for women.
But the timing of the special session of Parliament for introducing the bills raised eyebrows, with elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, weeks later. It was seen as the BJP’s bid to raid the Trinamool’s Lakshmir Bhandar of women voters.
MAMATA BANERJEE PITCHED LAKSHMIR BHANDAR AS LIFELONG SCHEME
The TMC’s bhaipo Abhishek Banerjee even assured Lakshmir Bhandar would continue uninterrupted. Mamata framed the Lakshmir Bhandar as a “lifelong, inclusive guarantee tied to the TMC for a diverse set of people of the state”.
“Those mothers and sisters who are already receiving Lakshmir Bhandar, and those who have applied afresh, you tell me, do you want it for a lifetime? Remember, you will get it only if the Trinamool Congress stays. The BJP will give some money before elections and stop it after. Do you want it for one day or for 365 days? Do you want it for five years or for your whole life?” asked Mamata Banerjee.
“I have made it for everyone, because in every home there is a Lakshmi, a Saraswati, a Vidyawati, a Sati Savitri, in every home there is a Roshanara, a Jahanara, in every home there is a Bauri, a Bagchi, a Kumbhakar, a Tudu, a Lodha. It’s for all,” she added.
However, the narrative of the welfare of women through schemes like Lakshmir Bhandar, did not stick with the electorate. The narratives of women’s safety, law and order, development and, of course, her alleged Muslim bent, stick to take the shine off Lakshmir Bhandar. The BJP, now in power, would likely soon give a return gift for their support for the BJP and launch the Annapurna Bhandar.
It is also correct that the BJP win in Bengal is not entirely a rejection of Mamata’s welfare schemes. It’s a reminder that Lakshmir Bhandar can’t carry the whole election on its back. The BJP just outdid the TMC. It tapped into the fatigue around Mamata Banerjee’s image, her government and the churn on the ground. In the end, women voters of Bengal simply chose to look beyond Lakshmir Bhandar. Now, the road ahead runs through Annapurna Bhandar.
– Ends
