He was elected to the 13th Lok Sabha from Midnapore constituency in West Bengal in a by-election held on 10 May 2001.

[citation needed] Panda was born in a Utkal Brahmin family.

He graduated in arts from the Dantan Bhattar College, which was then affiliated with the prestigious and historic University of Calcutta.

After serving the Lok Sabha office as a Member of Parliament for 13 years, he has been the secretary of state for West Bengal for the Communist Party of India since February 2015.

He died on 27 February 2018 following a massive heart attack while working at his office in Kolkata.