Women, youth, scheme beneficiaries: TMC, BJP battle to woo same set of voters through poll promises

PTI, April 12, 2026, Kolkata :  The TMC and BJP, through promises made in their respective manifestos for the West Bengal polls, have made it clear that they are fighting to woo the same bloc of voters – women, youth and welfare scheme beneficiaries – even as they seek to shape the contest through different pitches on identity, minorities, polarisation and nationalism.

While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is banking on the social coalition of women, minorities and SC-ST voters that has kept the TMC in power since 2011, the BJP is trying to upend that base through financial aid promises, highlighting Bengali pride, vows to implement the Uniform Civil Code and provide citizenship for Hindu refugees, besides its anti-infiltration rhetoric.

The Left Front and Congress have also unveiled their respective manifestos. But unlike the TMC and BJP, which are battling to capture power, they appear to be fighting mainly to reclaim political relevance through promises centred on jobs, industry and anti-incumbency.

Political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty summed up the poll manifestos this way: "The manifestos reflect their ideological and political positioning. The TMC is fighting to hold together its old social coalition. The BJP is fighting to break it with its own mix of promises and ideological push. The Left and Congress are fighting to remind voters that they still exist."

If the TMC manifesto seeks to preserve its social coalition, the BJP's 'Sankalp Patra' is an attempt to prise that coalition apart seat by seat, community by community and grievance by grievance. The party has doubled down on the formula that transformed Banerjee from a street-fighter into perhaps the country's most durable regional leader – direct cash transfer, women-centric welfare schemes and careful outreach to minorities and backward communities.

The proposed hike in Lakshmir Bhandar to Rs 1,500 for women in the general category and Rs 1,700 for SC and ST women is not merely a welfare announcement. It is the TMC's attempt to consolidate women, who have repeatedly turned out in greater numbers than men and rescued the party whenever anti-incumbency threatened to gather force.

"Those who want to divide West Bengal in the name of religion should know that the state stands with its mothers, daughters, minorities, majority and the poor," TMC leader Jaiprakash Majumdar said, projecting the election as a battle to protect the state's social cohesion.

The BJP has recognised that women are the TMC's strongest fortress. Its response is not to bypass it, but to storm it. Union Home Minister Amit Shah promised Rs 3,000 a month for every woman, free bus travel, 33 per cent reservation in government jobs and a network of women police stations and 'Durga Suraksha Squads'. The BJP believes that below the surface of the TMC's welfare success lies anger over crimes against women, the RG Kar outrage, Sandeshkhali incidents and a wider feeling that the state has become unsafe.

The TMC manifesto also speaks directly to West Bengal's Muslims, who account for nearly 30 per cent of the electorate and influence results in more than 110 seats. Promises on Waqf properties, Aliah University and skill training in minority areas are meant to reassure a constituency unsettled by the BJP's growing aggression and by fresh tensions over the Waqf issue.

The BJP, in contrast, has made that very polarisation the centrepiece of its campaign. Its promise to implement the Uniform Civil Code within six months if it comes to power, coupled with vows to stop infiltration, detect and deport illegal immigrants and enact laws against 'Love Jihad' and 'Land Jihad', is a calculated attempt to consolidate Hindu votes.