India, Dec. 22 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday emerged as the top force in the first phase of elections for local self-government bodies in Maharashtra, winning 117 out of the 288 posts of municipal council and nagar panchayat presidents across the state. The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the BJP's partner in the ruling Mahayuti alliance, emerged as a distant second, winning 53 municipal council/nagar panchayat president posts, while the NCP (SP) led by Sharad Pawar and the Shiv Sena (UBT) headed by Uddhav Thackeray performed poorly, winning just seven and nine presidents' posts respectively.

The BJP bagged more than 48% of the overall tally of 6,859 seats as well, its score of 3,325 seats a huge jump from the 1,602 it had b...