She is a member of the Indian National Congress and has served as the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Social Justice and Empowerment and Tourism during Manmohan Singh's premiership.

[1] Selja Kumari was born in a Chamar family on 24 September 1962 in Parbhuwala Hisar to Chaudhary Dalbir Singh, who was a politician from the Indian National Congress.

[2] Selja also took the oath as the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation in the Manmohan Singh-led government that following the 2004 electoral victory.

She remained in office for five years until the completion of her term in May 2014, a period during which she worked on issues relating to empowerment of women and rights of marginalised communities.

[7] Following that, she expressed a renewed interest in the politics of the state and was appointed the president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee in September 2019, just ahead of the assembly elections scheduled for October.