Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations, employing the B3LYP method and the LANL2DZ, 6-31G$^*$(LANL2DZ for Tc), 6-31G$^*$(cc-pVDZ-pp for Tc) and DGDZVP basis sets, have been performed to investigate the electronic structures and absorption spectra of the technetium-99m-labeled methylenediphosphonate ($^{99m}Tc$-MDP) complex of the simplest diphosphonate ligand. The bonding situations and natural bond orbital compositions were studied by the Mulliken population analysis (MPA) and natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. The results indicate that the ${sigma}$ and ${pi}$ contributions to the Tc-O bonds are strongly polarized towards the oxygen atoms and the ionic contribution to the Tc-O bonding is larger than the covalent contribution. The electronic transitions investigated by TDDFT calculations and molecular orbital analyses show that the origin of all absorption bands is ascribed to the ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) character. The solvent effect on the electronic structures and absorption spectra has also been studied by performing DFT and TDDFT calculations at the B3LYP/6-31G$^*$(cc-pVDZ-pp for Tc) level with the integral equation formalism polarized continuum model (IEFPCM) in different media. It is found that the absorption spectra display blue shift in different extents with the increase of solvent polarity.