Born on May 1, 1977, in Shankarpur, Choudwar, Odisha, Prasanta Behera comes from a politically active family. His father, Dharmananda Behera, is a veteran politician and former MLA of the Choudwar-Cuttack Assembly constituency.
He completed his schooling at Kamalakanta Vidyapitha, Cuttack and later earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Choudwar College, Choudwar. Apart from politics, he is also known for his involvement in social welfare and public service activities.
Prasanta Behera first contested the Odisha Legislative Assembly election in 2014 as a BJD candidate from Salipur constituency but lost to Congress candidate Prakash Chandra Behera by a narrow margin of 2,117 votes. In the 2019 Odisha Assembly Election, he successfully won the Salipur seat representing Biju Janata Dal.