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The BJP government in West Bengal, which formerly took oath on 9 May 2026, has announced that women deleted from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) will not receive benefits under the Annapurna Bhandar scheme until their status is cleared through verification.

The announcement was made on 11 May 2026 by Women and Child Welfare Minister Agnimitra Paul. The Annapurna Bhandar scheme is set to replace the TMC government’s Lakshmir Bhandar, under which women beneficiaries received monthly assistance of ₹1,500. The new scheme increases this stipend to ₹3,000 per month.

“We are starting to implement the promises we made in our manifesto from June 1,” Paul said. “Women beneficiaries as per the previous government list will be getting ₹3,000 financial allowance under the Annapurna Bhandar scheme, and names of new beneficiaries will be added to the list.”

“Those women whose names are on the list will receive it,” she clarified. “Before that, there will be an analysis once. Those names that have been removed from the SIR list and used to receive Lakshmi Bhandar benefits, many of them will not get it now.”

Officials said the state currently has around 2.2 crore women listed as beneficiaries under the earlier Lakshmir Bhandar scheme. The government plans to match this database against the names removed during the SIR exercise as well as those whose appeals are pending.

Around 63 lakh names were deleted during the SIR process, while about 27 lakh excluded voters have appeals pending before tribunals.

Paul added that women whose appeals against exclusion from the voter rolls are pending before appellate tribunals would also be “kept aside” for the time being. If any deleted voter is restored to the electoral rolls later, she specified, they would again become eligible for the welfare scheme.

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“Those who have died, how will they receive Lakshmi Bhandar? Those who are not Indian citizens, how will they receive Lakshmi Bhandar?” Paul asked, defending the verification process.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had earlier said after the first cabinet meeting that no welfare scheme introduced by the previous government would be discontinued. At the same time, he stressed that “non-existent beneficiaries, fake beneficiaries and those who are not Indians” would not receive welfare benefits.

Sources in the administration said the government intends to scrutinise beneficiary databases across welfare schemes to identify alleged irregularities. Officials said the chief minister instructed bureaucrats to ensure all welfare transfers are made directly into beneficiaries’ bank accounts following the central government’s model. The government is also reviewing other schemes, including housing assistance and rural welfare programmes, to identify possible cases involving “bogus” or “non-existent” beneficiaries.

Some officials, however, raised concerns over stopping benefits for individuals whose appeals are still pending before tribunals. One official pointed out that appellate tribunals have already restored more than 1,600 names to the electoral rolls, indicating that not all excluded persons were ineligible.

The announcement came on the same day the BJP government formally allocated ministerial portfolios. Agnimitra Paul, an MLA from Asansol North and one of the party’s prominent women leaders, was given charge of the Women and Child Welfare and Social Welfare departments.

Paul also sought to reassure women in the state on issues of safety and law enforcement. “Being an ordinary woman myself, I want to tell all women in the state not to worry and be scared of anything. We are with you,” she said. “Anyone committing atrocities against women will be punished severely.”

[DS]

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