 Alva was elected to the 13th Lok Sabha as a Member of Parliament in 1999, serving a five-year term.She lost a subsequent re-election attempt in the Uttara Kannada constituency.Between 2004 and 2009, she served as General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee and was an advisor to the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies & Training, a government body that works with newly elected parliamentary representatives at both national and state level.