West Bengal Women’s Scheme Draws Flak After Viral Application Shows A Man’s Photo With Ismotara Bibi Name Tag

West Bengal Women’s Scheme Fraud: West Bengal’s Lakshmir Bhandar scheme is facing heat after a viral image put its beneficiary records under the microscope. The image shows an application form for “Ismotara Bibi,” who’s supposed to be a woman between 25 and 60 receiving help from the program. But what really caught everyone’s eye? The photo on the form is a man, and the father’s name listed is clearly male too. Social media did not waste any time slamming the viral post. 

These are the prime beneficiaries of the Laxmi Bhandar Scheme under Mamata Banerjee.

The scheme was meant for poor women but it was going to TMC’s special vote bank. pic.twitter.com/NYKLpqsSiC

— Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) June 2, 2026

All this is unfolding against a backdrop of a much bigger investigation into fraud within the scheme. Authorities have already found plenty of cases where people who shouldn’t get the money are getting it anyway. For example, police in Murshidabad arrested a man who dressed up as a woman just to grab the cash. And in one part of Nadia district, officials found out that 173 men were getting paid through the program.

Suvendu Adhikari claims they’ve done major clean-up

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s new government says they’ve done a major clean-up of welfare records and discovered around 3 million suspicious or outright fake accounts, a lot of them in men’s names. Now a Special Investigation Team is digging into what happened, trying to pin down who’s responsible, and working to get public money back where it belongs. At the same time, officials say women who truly qualify won’t lose their support while the frauds get weeded out.

How did the Internet react?

Prime beneficiaries of the Laxmi Bhandar Scheme under Mamata Banerjee🤣 pic.twitter.com/Cxs9FSHIaO

— The Jaipur Dialogues (@JaipurDialogues) June 2, 2026

One of the beneficiaries of Didi’s Laxmi Bhandar Scheme. Imagine the rot in the system. The big chunk of the benefits went to ineligible ones from a particular community. pic.twitter.com/LC1cdkgWsN

— Paamela Goswami (@pamelagoswami9) June 2, 2026

Clearly, Ismatora Bibi was in need of money – to buy a shaving kit every month .

— #IndiaFirst 🇮🇳 (@savitha_rao) June 2, 2026

If my aunt Momota had balls, he would by unkill.

This bibi is baccha of bacchabazi porki-khan

— Haridas Kukkur – Kashi, Mathura + 29,997 baaki hai (@HaridasKukkur) June 2, 2026

What is West Bengal’s Lakshmir Bhandar scheme? 

Lakshmir Bhandar Scheme is one of the social welfare schemes launched by the Government of West Bengal in 2021 for providing monthly monetary benefits to the women of the state. This welfare programme is designed with the objective of improving the economic status of women belonging to the age group of 25-60 years from eligible households. Women in the general category will get a certain amount on a monthly basis, and those falling under the categories of SC/ST communities will get more than the general category.

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