The PPP on Sunday decided to put forward senior leader Aitzaz Ahsan's name for the post of president, sources within the party told DawnNewsTV.

An official announcement in this regard will be made after consultation with other opposition parties, the sources said.

PPP Co-Chairman Asif Zardari also took JUI-F's Maulana Fazlur Rehman into confidence over the party's decision and requested him to play a role in convincing the PML-N to support Ahsan as a presidential candidate, the sources said.

Relations between the PPP and PML-N have been tense since the former refused to support Shahbaz Sharif as candidate for prime minister and abstained from voting in the Lower House, making his contest against Imran Khan a one-sided affair.

Ties continued to sour after the PPP withdrew its support to the PML-N, with reports suggesting that the latter was seeking to oust PPP leader Sherry Rehman from her position as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and attempting to replace her with Raja Zafarul Haq.

The PPP also abstained from voting earlier in the election for Punjab Assembly speaker and deputy speaker, and in today's election for Punjab chief minister, which PML-N's Hamza Shahbaz lost to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's Usman Buzdar by 27 votes.

Meanwhile, the PTI has nominated Arif Alvi as its candidate for president.

The presidential election is set to take place on Sept 4. The last day for the submission of nomination papers is Aug 27.

Who is Aitzaz Ahsan?

PPP leader Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, 72, is a former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association and a senior SC advocate.

He has legally defended three prime ministers of Pakistan. Known for his strong pro-democracy stance, he was an active member of the Movement of Restoration of Democracy under former dictator Ziaul Haq's martial law, because of which he was jailed multiple times.

He was also actively involved in the 2007 lawyers' movement under former dictator Pervez Musharraf and supported former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

He founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and was a close associate of deceased human rights lawyer and activist Asma Jahangir.

Born on September 27, 1945 in Murree, he received his early education from Aitchison College and Government College, Lahore. He later studied law at Cambridge University.

Equipped with his education in law and jurisprudence, Ahsan appeared in Pakistan’s prestigious Central Superior Services (CSS) examination. However, he did not join government service in defiance of Ayub Khan’s military rule.

He began his political career with the PPP in the '70s and was elected to the Punjab Assembly on PP-28 (Gujrat) in 1972. In 1977, he was re-elected to PP-28. During this decade, he also served as Punjab information, planning and development minister under the PPP government.

In 1977, he left the PPP over allegations of rigging in the General Election and later joined Air Marshal retired Asghar Khan's Tehreek-i-Istaqlal.

He rejoined the PPP in 1988, before the formation of Benazir Bhutto's government, and was elected to NA-93 (Lahore). He served as interior minister and law minister during this time.

He was re-elected to NA-93 in the 1990 election, but lost the seat in 1993 to PML-N's Humayun Akhtar.

He was elected to the Senate in 1994 and served as Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition by turn until his tenure expired in 1999.

In 2002, he again participated in the General election and won NA-124 (Lahore), and NA-187 (Bahawalpur), retaining the former. He did not take part in the 2008 elections due to his involvement in the lawyers' movement.

In 2009, his membership of PPP's central executive committee was cancelled over charges of criticising party leadership, taking part in rallies, and holding marches in violation of the party’s policy.

In 2012, he was elected to the Senate again on a technocrat seat representing the PPP and again served as Leader of the Opposition. His tenure expired in March 2018.