India, Jan. 15 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena are poised for a sweeping victory in elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), according to four exit polls, signalling a possible end to decades of Thackeray-led dominance over India's richest civic body.

The reunited Thackeray cousins-Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray-are projected to consolidate Maratha and Muslim votes, but appear to have failed in stemming a strong surge by the BJP among North and South Indian voters.

The BMC, often described as Asia's wealthiest municipal corporation with a budget comparable to a small Indian state, was last elected in 2017.

At the time, the then-united Shiv Sena retained control of t...