Nikhil ran in the
2019 Indian general election in Karnataka from the
Mandya Lok Sabha constituency, as a
Janata Dal (Secular) candidate.
Mandya was considered a safe bastion for the erstwhile Congress-JDS alliance as historically,
Indian National Congress was the most successful party, followed by
Janata Dal (Secular) to contest in the district. He lost in the elections to
Sumalatha, who was married to the late
Kannada veteran
Ambareesh, by a margin of 128,876 votes. He contested in the
bypolls held in
Channapatna in November 2024. This assembly seat was vacant after his father
H. D. Kumaraswamy, who was elected to the
Karnataka Legislative Assembly in the 2023
State Assembly Elections, went on to contest the
2024 General Elections from
Mandya and was victorious in the same. Nikhil conceded defeat to
C. P. Yogeshwara, candidate of the
Indian National Congress party. ==Electoral statistics==