From correspondents in West Bengal, India, 02:32 PM IST

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) will win the forthcoming panchayat elections in Nandigram in East Midnapore district of West Bengal, party patriarch and former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu predicted Friday.

'No matter how much the opposition party tries to provoke the people of Nandigram, we will win the polls there,' Basu told reporters at the CPI-M headquarters here.

The panchayat elections at Nandigram are scheduled to be held Sunday.

Initially, there were differences over the distribution of seats between the CPI-M and its ruling Left Front alliance partner, the All India Forward Bloc.

'In today's (Friday) meeting, we decided to replace some of our candidates with those from the Forward Bloc. We have already sorted out intra-party differences to a large extent. The lack of unity is still there but our motivation to work for the welfare of people remains the same. This makes us confident of our victory,' Basu said.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)