India, Oct. 14 -- The Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) will allocate 50% of its tickets for the upcoming local body elections across Maharashtra to young candidates from non-political backgrounds, party president Sharad Pawar said at a review meeting on Monday.

This would be the first time such a large number of young faces get such an opportunity from the party, which fared poorly in the state assembly elections last year.

Pawar also instructed his party's leaders to decide by next week if they want to form an alliance at the local level for the elections. This will allow the party leadership to reach a conclusion, as several leaders have indicated that local-level workers want the party to contest the polls independent...