Did AAP's Widow Pension Benefit 80,000 Muslim Women With Husbands? What We Know

The claim is misleading in nature as the scheme is applicable for women from all religious backgrounds.

Posts about the former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi's Widow Pension Scheme are being shared on social media, where users are claiming that the scheme benefited over 80,000 Muslim women who in reality, have husbands.

The Quint also received a query to verify this claim on its WhatsApp tipline.

(Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here and here.)

But...?: There are no official documents or releases to support this claim.

• While the scheme was named the 'Widow Pension Scheme', its beneficiaries included destitute, divorced, abandoned, separated, and widowed women.

• Additionally, the scheme applied to nearly all women in Delhi below a certain income threshold and was not religion-specific as the claim insinuates.

How do we know?: We looked for more details about AAP's scheme, which led us to the website of Delhi's Department of Women and Child Development (WCD).

• It mentioned two schemes for widows, namely, the Widow-Daughter Marriage Scheme and the one in question, the Widow Pension Scheme.

• As per the page, the Widow Pension Scheme aimed to "provide social security by way of Financial Assistance to Widows, Divorced, Separated, Abandoned, deserted or Destitute women" who "have no adequate means of subsistence and are poor, needy and vulnerable."

Under the scheme, the page noted that women availing it were entitled to ₹2,500 in their bank accounts and that there were 3.5 lakh beneficiaries of the scheme.

Who were eligible for it?: The page added details about eligibility, noting that women applying for this scheme were required to be Delhi residents for at least five years.

• It added that the applicant's annual income could not exceed one lakh rupees for eligibility, and that she did not receive pension from any other source.

• It made no mention of the woman's religion, caste, or background apart from annual income.

Controversy around beneficiaries: After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in February 2025, AAP accused the state's government of not disbursing the pension amount to the scheme's beneficiaries, The Hindu reported on 23 April.

• A senior official told the publication that the incumbent government was physically verifying the eligibility of 3.5 lakh applicants, and had found over 20,000 to be ineligible till April.

• Until 1 July, over 60,000 women were found to be ineligible, The Hindu noted in another report.

• "These included remarried women claiming to be divorced, employed women drawing assistance despite a steady income and others who no longer resided at their registered addresses,” it read.

• None of the credible news reports surrounding the controversy mentioned the religious identities of any of these women.

Why is it misleading?: The claim is misleading on three counts.

• The scheme is neither exclusively applicable to widows, nor is it catered to women for any specific religion.

• Since the verification began, approximately 60,000 women have been found ineligible, which makes it impossible for over 80,000 women to be incorrectly benefitting from it.

• None of the reports about beneficiary verification mention the religious identities of the women who were found to be ineligible.

Conclusion: A misleading claim about over 80,000 Muslim women availing benefits of the Widow Pension scheme has gone viral on social media.

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