Winning nearly 73 per cent of seats in West Bengal, the ruling Trinamul Congress once again proved that women-centric schemes like Lakshmir Bhandar can bring another spectacular victory for the party after the 2021 assembly polls in the state.

The major issues in the state are alleged scams in public distribution system (PDS) and teachers and non-teachers recruitments in government-sponsored schools, leading to arrests of several heavyweight ministers in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet.

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Political violence in Sandeshkhali, a small island in Sundarban delta in North 24 Parganas district, and BJP’s Hindutava politics also could not restrict the Trinamul Congress (TMC) within the club of maximum 20 seats this time in the LS polls in the state.

“Mamata Banerjee’s different beneficiary schemes starting from Lakshmir Bhandar, Sabujshree, Kanyashree etc, and Swasthya Sathi scheme in connection with women development defeated BJP’s aggressive politics
of religion in Bengal. Fifty per cent of voters are women and around 2.30 crore financially weak women get direct cash assistance every month through Lakshmir Bhandar scheme,” said Prof Biswanath Chakraborty, a political analyst.

The scheme, introduced in 2021, provides direct cash transfer to women between 25 and 60 years. The cash amount has been increased to Rs 1000 from Rs 500 for the general category.

Women voters constituting around 50 per cent of total electorates in the state have traditionally shown their mandate to Banerjee since the TMC came to power in 2011 in the state after ending 34 years’ Left regime.

According to the latest data from the Election Commission of India (ECI), the state has 3.73 crore women voters, 12 lakh less than the number of registered male voters around 3.85 crore. However, there has been a notable increase in the registration of fresh women voters.

Interestingly, in the 2019 LS polls, women recorded a higher voter turnout than men, with 81.79 per cent of women casting their votes compared to 81.35 per cent of men. Data showed that in the 2019 elections, women registered a higher turnout.

Political analysts pointed out that while women voters have traditionally been loyal supporters of the TMC, along with minorities who share around 32 per cent vote banks in the state.

They said that the TMC has the advantage of having a woman, Mamata Banerjee, at its helm, who has garnered the support of women, especially from marginalised backgrounds, throughout her political career, while the main opposition state BJP lacks popular women faces.

“A family with three women aged between 25 and 60 years can get Rs 3,000 cash assistance with Rs 1,000 each under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme every month,” one of the analysts said.

A glance at the voting pattern in this general election showed that many LS seats have phenomenal turnouts of women voters as compared with men.

S K Samidul and S K Rajesh, two youths aged between 22 and 25, of Chandipur under Tamluk LS constituency, said they voted for TMC because “Didi has given our mothers, sisters and other women members cash assistance under Lakshmir Bhandar scheme. There are several other schemes which give women direct benefits.”

The women voters in the state are categorized into four sub-categories: minority, general, subaltern and SC-ST women. In the 2021 assembly elections, the TMC secured more than 50 per cent of the women’s votes, while the BJP garnered only 37 percent.

This time in the LS polls, Trinamul Congress has kept its vote share intact obtaining around 46 per cent votes, while for the saffron party, it is around 38 percent and for the Left-Congress combine, the percentage is close to 11 per cent.