The Delhi Cabinet has approved a scheme to provide Rs 1,000 per month to women above the age of 18, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal announced on Thursday.

Kejriwal said that the registration for the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana would begin on Friday but the money would not be credited into the bank accounts immediately as the Assembly elections were likely to be announced soon.

The eligibility criteria for availing of the scheme were not immediately clear.

The former chief minister also promised that the amount would be increased to Rs 2,100 per month if the Aam Aadmi Party retained power in the national capital.

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Delhi Chief Minister Atishi was also at the event where Kejriwal made the announcement.

The Assembly polls in Delhi are expected to take place in or before February. The Election Commission has not announced the schedule yet.

“This scheme is for empowering women and addressing their financial needs,” Kejriwal said, according to PTI. “While the BJP calls it free ‘revdis’, I see it as a step towards strengthening our society. The BJP asks from where the money will come, but I said we will give free electricity, and we did it.”

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Kejriwal expressed confidence that his party will perform well in the polls and urged women for support. “If all women work together, we will secure more than 60 seats,” PTI quoted him as saying.

In the 2020 Assembly polls, the Aam Aadmi Party won 62 of the 70 seats. The BJP won the remaining eight seats.

The Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana was announced in March by Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi, who was Delhi’s finance minister at the time, as part of the Union Territory’s Budget for the financial year 2024-’25.

The scheme will exclude government employees, income taxpayers and those receiving pensions, Atishi had said at the time and added that it is likely to benefit 45 lakh to 50 lakh women in the national capital.