Who Is Kumari Selja: With Exit Polls indicating a thumping victory for the Congress party in the Haryana Assembly Elections, discussions over the Chief Ministerial candidates of the grand-old party have taken centre stage. Most of the poll surveys predicted 44 to 57 seats in Congress's kitty, placing it comfortably above the majority mark of 46 in a 90-seat assembly.
While senior leaders such as Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Randeep Surjewala are frontrunning the Chief Ministerial race, name of Kumari Selja, a five-time MP and former Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee chief, is doing rounds. However, she threw her hat in the ring, saying that if names would be considered for the CM post, her name would be among them.
“It is only for the high command to answer, and they will have to decide (about the CM candidate). There will be some people in the consideration zone and I think Selja will be among them," Selja had said in an interview with ANI.
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Who Is Kumari Selja
A prominent Dalit leader and five times Member of parliament from Haryana, Kumari Selja is a senior Congress leader who had earlier served as Minister of State For Social Justice and Empowerment and Tourism minister in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government.
Selja was first elected to Lok Sabha in 1991 on the Congress ticket from the Sirsa constituency of Haryana. Later she repeated her electoral success from Ambala in 2009 and again Sirsa in 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.
Kumari Selja was Born in a Dalit family in Prabhuwala Hisar to a politician father and after completing her initial education, she went on to study at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, New Delhi. Later she attended the Panjab University, where she completed her master's degree.
Kumari Selja: Political Debut And Afterwards
Selja’s political journey began with her involvement with the Mahila Congress, where she rose to become its President in 1990. She entered national politics by winning the 10th Lok Sabha seat from Sirsa, Haryana, in 1991. She served as Union Minister of State for Education and Culture under the Narasimha Rao-led Congress government. Despite the setback for Congress in Haryana in 1996, she secured re-election to the 11th Lok Sabha.
Following her election to the 14th Lok Sabha in 2004, Selja became more engaged in international events and summits. In 2005, she was elected to the Governing Board of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum. She also worked closely with organizations like the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and served as the chair of the Commonwealth Consultative Group on Human Settlements.