The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has been in politics for the last 15 years – a party of naïve youngsters having no vote bank but a charismatic leader, the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan.

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All that changed in the last few months after scores of well-known politicians, many of them considered ‘seat-winning’ candidates, joined the party, making it a formidable political force. Some view it as a third force that emerged in the vacuum created due to the failure of two major parties, the PPP and the PML-N; others attribute its rise to the backing by the powerful establishment- the real power brokers of the country.

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Either way, the party has shaken prospective voters out of political fatigue, and raised the temperature in what is largely believed to be the election year.