He had two daughters and three sons: Parvez, Javed, who looked after the family business, and Sabahat, who has resided in Thailand, being engaged in carpet manufacturing.

He also served as the acting leader of the opposition in the Provincial Assembly of Punjab from 1993 During the late 1980s and 1990s Pakistani politics was dominated by two movements, the conservative, right-wing Islamic Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) led by Nawaz Sharif, and the more left-wing Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Benazir Bhutto.

Parvez Elahi and the Chaudhry family followed a more traditionalist and conservative outlook, therefore Parvez and Shujaat Hussain sided with Nawaz Sharif and both joined the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad from 1985 to 1993, until joining the IJI’s successor, the PML-N.[6] Several cases were registered against Pervaiz during Benazir Bhutto's government in 1993-1996 and he was sent to Adiala Jail where he spent several months.

It was reported that Nawaz Sharif had promised Parvez that if PML-N won the 1997 Pakistani general election, Pervaiz would be made the chief minister of Punjab.

However, when PML-N won the 1997 general elections, Nawaz appointed his brother Shahbaz Sharif as the Chief Minister of Punjab.

The charges were dropped following an agreement he made to quit the Pakistan Muslim League (N), whose part he had been until the ouster of the PML-N government,[18][16] and assist President Pervez Musharraf in building the PML-Q.

[20][21] His first tenure oversaw a period of political stability with him holding the Military-backed President, Governor and Prime Minister's support.

[22][23] In 2004, his administration introduced the Female Secondary School Stipend program as part of the Punjab Education Sector Reforms Programme (PESRP).

Additionally, the evaluations primarily assessed enrollment impacts, with less emphasis on broader educational outcomes such as learning quality or test scores.

[31] He was named by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and PML-Q as their joint candidate for the office of Speaker of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab.

In March 2022, Imran Khan nominated Parvez Elahi as a candidate for the post of Chief Minister of Punjab after the incumbent Usman Buzdar resigned.

During his second tenure as Chief Minister, he approved schemes worth Rs.15 Billion in order to provide quality and up-to-date medical services and equipment to areas of Punjab including hospitals in Multan, Faisalabad and Gujrat.

On 12 January 2023, after securing victory in a vote of confidence the night before, Parvez sent a letter to Governor Balighur Ur Rehman, advising him to dissolve the Provincial Assembly.

[40] On 22 January, he was replaced as Chief Minister by Mohsin Raza Naqvi, who was appointed by the Election Commission of Pakistan to lead a caretaker government.

[42] In June 2023, Elahi was arrested on charges of illegally appointing officers in the Punjab Assembly when he was Chief Minister and detained in Rawalpindi.

[44] Due to his imprisonment he was unable to contest in the elections, and instead, Parvez’s wife, Qaisara Elahi ran in his place from PP-32 Gujrat-VI and NA-64 Gujrat-III against their nephew, Chaudhry Salik Hussain.

[46][47] During his imprisonment, he faced several medical issues, the biggest of which was a major spinal fracture after falling in a jail washroom.