On February 27, 2018, former Lok Sabha Member Prabodh Panda, 72, who was the Secretary of the CPI's West Bengal State Council, breathed his last after a massive heart attack in the morning at the CPI's State headquarters in Bhupesh Bhavan, Kolkata.
The national President of the All India Kisan Sabha and the All India Anganwadi Workers Union, he was a member of the CPI's National Executive and National Council.
Elected to the 13th Lok Sabha from West Bengal's Purva Medinipur district, he won the elections to the 14th and 15th Lok Sabha from the same constituency in 2004 and 2009. Born in February 1946 in a peasant family in Purva Medinipur, he was a student activist before joining the peasant movement. He was for long the Secretary of the CPI's Medinipur District Council.
He played a notable role in formulating policies on water conservation and management as the convenor of the parliamentary forum on the subject. He also focussed attention on peasants' problems in Parliament.
He is survived by his wife and son.