Madan Mitra started his early career with party Indian National Congress.

In 1998, he joined Trinamool Congress party, founded by his colleague Mamata Banerjee, and his movie debut was in the 2023 Bengali film Oh!

[5][6] On 18 November 2015, he resigned from the cabinet after being named as an accused in the Saradha Group financial scandal.

He was defeated by Manash Mukherjee of Communist Party of India (Marxist) by a margin of 4,198 votes.

In 2012, Mitra questioned the morals of Suzette Jordan, the Park Street rape victim for befriending strangers at 2 am.

[14] On 13 December 2014, Mitra was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for his alleged role in Saradha Group financial scandal.

Mamata Banerjee claimed that the arrest was an example of political vendetta of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

[18] On 17 May 2021, he along with senior minister in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, Subrata Mukherjee, MLA and minister Firhad Hakim and former Mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee have been arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation from their house in connection with the Narada sting operation.