A phone app and a database of more than 50 million voters were key weapons in the successful campaign of cricket legend Imran Khan in last month's general election — though rivals allege that Khan also received clandestine aid from Pakistan's powerful military.

How Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party used the database and the associated app represents a sea change in the antiquated way in which Pakistan's biggest parties conduct elections, from pre-poll targeting of voters to on-the-day mobilization of supporters.

PTI is known in English as the Movement for Justice party.