Nila Vikhe Patil, daughter of Maharashtra educationist Ashok Vikhe Patil, was elected to the Swedish Parliament on Saturday from the Stockholm City constituency.Nila is the great-granddaughter of the founder of Asia’s first cooperative sugar factory, Vithalrao Vikhe Patil, and granddaughter of late Union minister Balasaheb Vikhe Patil. Her uncle, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, is a Maharashtra minister.Born in Sweden, Nila spent her early years in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. She holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from the Gothenburg School of Business, with Economics and Law, and also studied for an MBA at the University of Complutense in Madrid.Since 2020, she has worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a global services network, offering strategy, management, technology and risk consulting.In April 2025, she became an authorised public accountant.She has been a member of the Stockholm City Council. She also served as a political adviser in the Swedish Prime Minister’s Office, focusing on finance, taxes and housing during the Stefan Lofven administration.“It feels nice to be a part of the 349-member Parliament. I am looking forward to contributing to the city and the country,” Nila told news agency PTI.“I would like to be a voice for those who cannot vote,” she said. “I want to contribute to a society where every child gets a chance for a good future. We need a habitable planet with clean water, living nature and as few human-caused natural disasters as possible,” she added.The 41-year-old Nila said that she loves India dearly and misses her grandfather a lot.“I hope to make my grandfather proud. He made me read the state budget when I was 15,” Nila said.“I love India dearly and I feel very connected. I have lots of close Indian friends. I miss my grandfather a lot. He used to call me almost weekly during his last years,” she added.Sweden’s left-leaning opposition won a narrow majority in the September 13 election. The Swedish Election Authority said the four opposition parties won 176 seats in the 349-seat Riksdag (Parliament). The four parties that make up or support the outgoing conservative-led government took 173 seats.The opposition Green Party is focused on environmentalism, renewable energy and green politics.Nila has been active in the Green Party for 25 years and is a member of the Election Committee of the Stockholm Green Party.
