 She served as Joint Secretary of the All India Congress Committee between 1975 and 1977 and as General Secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee between 1978 and 1980,

In April 1974, Alva had been elected to the Raiya Sabha as a representative of Congress.She served a six-year term and was then re-elected for a further three six-year terms, in 1980, 1986 and 1992.During her time in the Rajya Sabha, she was its vice-chairman (1983–85) and also served terms as Union Minister of State in the ministries for Parliamentary Affairs (1984–85) and for Youth and Sports and Women and Child Development, an arm of the Ministry of Human Resource Development.