- By Priyanka Koul
- Fri, 16 Jan 2026 05:56 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
In a double blow to the former gangster Arun Gawli, his two daughters, Geeta and Yogita Gawli suffered defeated in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections of 2026. The sisters were standing as candidates for the Akhil Bharatiya Sena, a political party founded by their father.
Geeta Gawli contested from Ward 212 in Byculla, but was defeated by Amreen Shehzan Abrahani of the Samajwadi Party. Meanwhile, her sister Yogita Gawli faced a loss to BJP candidate Rohidas Lokhande in Ward 207. Both wards, located in central Mumbai, are traditionally seen as Gawli family strongholds, making the twin defeats all the more pitiful.
As per an NDTV report, the Gawli sisters stated that people do not regard them as "don's daughters" but rather as "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 affectionately call him 'daddy' in the Dagdi Chawl area of Byculla.
Arun Gawli, once a feared gangster, entered Mumbai's underworld in the 1970s. Along with his brother Kishor, he was part of the 'Byculla Company', a criminal gang that operated in the central Mumbai areas of Byculla, Parel, and Saat Rasta.
Gawli took control of the gang in 1988 and was embroiled in a power struggle with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's faction throughout the late 1980s and 1990s.
In the 1980s, he secured political backing from Shiv Sena patriarch Balasaheb Thackeray. However, following a fallout with Shiv Sena in the mid-1990s, Gawli formed his own political party and served as an MLA from the Chinchpokli constituency between 2004 and 2009.
Arun Gawli was convicted and jailed in 2008 for the murder of a Mumbai Shiv Sena corporator. He was released on bail in September after spending 17 years in prison.