R. Selvaraj

R. Selvaraj Biography

R. Selvaraj is a senior politician of Kerala state politics. Associated with LDF till 2012, currently he is a prolific leader of Indian National Congress. Selvaraj was actually a senior leader of LDF who has won state assembly elections multiple times. In 2006 and 2011 he was elected to state assembly elections as a candidate of LDF from Parassala and restructured Neyyattinkara constituencies, such an influential leader. In 2012 he resigned his MLA position and joined Congress. In the by-election he won as a congress candidate and joined Oommen Chandy's government. But in 2016 State Assembly elections, he was defeated by a first-time LDF candidate, K. A. Ansalan. As an MLA Selvaraj has given some significant contributions to his constituencies and is known as a popular leader.

He was born in Dhanuvachapuram, the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border village in the district of Thiruvananthapuram. Varghese and Ruthe are his parents, and he was born in the year 1949. He is married to Mary Valsala and the couple has two daughters. He entered politics joining student wing of CPI (M), S.F.I and K.S.Y.F during his college days at Dhanuvachapuram NSS College. He later rose to the positions of Area Secretary, Parassala; Vice-President of Kollayil Panchayat; District Joint Secretary, Karshaka Sangham, Thiruvananthapuram and Member, C.P.I. (M) District Committee, Thiruvananthapuram.

He contested in the state assembly elections for the first time in 2006 representing Parassala constituency, where he defeated senior Congress leader, Deputy Speaker and sitting MLA of Indian National Congress, Sundaran Nadar by a majority of 4407 votes. When constituencies were restructured in 2011 he contested from Neyyattinkara constituency and defeated Thampanoor Ravi of INC. He was known for his closeness with the senior CPI (M) leader V.S. Achuthanandan, and often considered as a stranger within the district unit of his party, which is hugely dominated by the Pinarayi. For the reason he submitted his resignation.

Though he said it is better to commit suicide than join the Congress-led UDF, he joined UDF and successfully contested from Neyyattinkara Constituency, where he resigned. He defeated F. Lowrence (CPM) by a majority of 6,334. After three consecutive wins in the state assembly elections since 2006, he tasted the bitterness of failure in 2016 state assembly elections when he was defeated by a newcomer K. A. Ansalan. The elections also witnessed a huge comeback of LDF.

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Updated: May 29, 2016