Double Setback To Ex-Gangster Arun Gawli, Both His Daughters Lose In BMC Polls

In a double setback to gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli, both his daughters -- Geeta and Yogita Gawli -- have lost in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, 2026. The two sisters were the candidates of the Akhil Bharatiya Sena, founded by her father.  

Geeta Gawli was defeated by Amreen Shehzan Abrahani of the Samajwadi Party in Ward 212 in Byculla. Yogita Gawli lost to the BJP's Rohidas Lokhande in Ward 207.

The twin defeat signals the diminishing political influence of the Gawli family in Mumbai.

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Earlier, speaking to NDTV, the Gawli sisters had said that people don't look up to them as "don's daughters" but "daddy's daughters." "People look up to 'daddy' with hope and trust. He has resolved many of their issues," they said, referring to their father, Arun Gawli, whose supporters famously call him 'daddy' in the Dagdi Chawl in Byculla.

Arun Gawli was a dreaded gangster who had entered the Mumbai underworld in the 1970s. He and his brother Kishor were part of the 'Byculla Company', a criminal gang that operated in the central Mumbai areas of Byculla, Parel, and Saat Rasta.

Arun Gawli took over the gang in 1988 and was involved in a power struggle with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's gang through the late 80s and 90s.

In the 1980s, he earned the political patronage of Shiv Sena patriarch Balasaheb Thackeray. But after a fallout with the Shiv Sena in the mid-1990s, he formed his own political party and went on to serve as an MLA between 2004 and 2009 from the Chinchpokli constituency.

Arun Gawli was jailed in 2008 for the murder of a Mumbai Shiv Sena corporator. He was released on bail last September after 17 years in jail.