Selvaraj was a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) representing Neyyattinkara constituency, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
He was a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the present ruling party in Kerala but resigned from the Kerala Legislature and the party on 9 March 2012 and joined Indian National Congress party.
His resignation was attributed to rampant factionalism in his party.
After joining the Indian National Congress, he contested the by-election from Neyyattinkara on "Hand" symbol and romped home with a margin of 6,334 votes, pushing up the ruling UDF’s slender majority in the 140-member Kerala Assembly to 73.