He is the grandson of former Prime Minister of India H. D. Deve Gowda and son of H. D. Revanna, former Minister for Public Works Department in Karnataka state1. Former Chief Minister of Karnataka, H. D. Kumaraswamy, is his uncle. He graduated as a mechanical engineer from Bangalore Institute of Technology in 2014.

In 2014, he discontinued his MTech course in Australia to assist his grandfather, H. D. Deve Gowda, with the Lok Sabha 2014 Indian general election in Hassan District, Karnataka. In 2015, he was among the ten young aspiring politicians in India to be chosen by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), the UK, to be exposed to British governance.

Although he was a Janata Dal (Secular) member, his entry into politics was delayed when the Janata Dal (Secular) party denied him a ticket in the 2018 Karnataka Vidhan Sabha elections.

He wanted his grandfather to contest the Lok Sabha 2019 Indian general election in Karnataka from the Hassan constituency. H. D. Deve Gowda gave up his stronghold Hassan district, for Prajwal’s debut into electoral politics and contested from Tumkur. Prajwal’s fortitude seemed to have paid off since he contested and won the Hassan constituency.

The Janata Dal (Secular) party contested in the 2019 Indian general election in Karnataka from 6 out of 28 Lok Sabha seats, with Prajwal emerging as the only winner. Within 12 hours of winning the seat, saddened by his grandfather’s defeat from the Tumkur constituency, he announced his resignation. Following his decision, H. D. Deve Gowda advised him not to tender his resignation.