Maharashtra’s Nila Vikhe Patil Elected to Swedish Parliament from Stockholm
Pune: Forty-one-year-old Nila Vikhe Patil, whose family traces its roots to Maharashtra, has been elected to the Swedish Parliament from the Stockholm City constituency in the general election held on September 13.
Nila is the daughter of educationist Ashok Vikhe Patil. She belongs to the Vikhe Patil family of Ahilyanagar, with her great-grandfather Vitthalrao Vikhe Patil credited with establishing Asia’s first cooperative sugar factory. Her grandfather Balasaheb Vikhe Patil served as a Union Minister, while her uncle Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil is a Cabinet Minister in the Maharashtra government.
Born in Sweden, Nila joined the Swedish Young Greens at the age of 15 and has remained active in public life through the Green Party. Before entering Parliament, she served in the Stockholm City Council and held positions in Green Party Gothenburg, Green Students of Sweden and the party’s executive committee.
She also worked as a political adviser in the Swedish Prime Minister’s Office, where her portfolio included housing and finance.
Speaking after her election, Nila said her priorities would be child welfare and environmental protection.
“I want to work towards securing every child’s future. We need to work on making our earth a habitable planet with clean water and living nature,” she said.
Nila holds an MBA in Economics and Law from the Gothenburg School of Business and has also studied at the University Complutense in Madrid.
Her father, Ashok Vikhe Patil, said she visits India at least once every year and expressed pride in her commitment to environmental protection and the rights of children and the poor.
