Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was born on December 26, 1950 in Sanghar, Sindh. He did his B.A. from the University of Sindh in 1970 and started his professional career as a businessman and agriculturist.

He also obtained a diploma in industrial management from England in 1974.

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf remained Chairman of Social Action Programme from 1994-96. He was elected Member of the National Assembly (MNA) in 2002 and 2008 elections from NA-51, Rawalpindi-II as a PPPP candidate.

He also served as Federal Minister for Water and Power and Minister for Information Technology in the former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani-led cabinet.

Pervaiz Ashraf also participated in 1985 non-party local bodies elections. In 1988 he joined Pakistan Peoples Party.

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf defeated PML (N) candidate Chaudhry Zaman by 25000 votes, in the national elections of 2002, while in 2008, he defeated PML (Q) candidate Qasim Javed.

He is married. He has two sons and two daughters.