Pakistanis cast pivotal ballots

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistanis head to the polls Monday to cast their ballots in a pivotal election, one day after attackers lobbed hand grenades and opened fire on polling stations and party workers.

At least one person was killed Sunday when a gunman traveling on a motorcycle opened fire on staffers working for former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party in Lahore, a police official and a party spokesman said.

While the police official said one person was killed, PML-N spokesman Muhammad Ali Chughotai said two party workers were killed and six wounded in the attack. Both the motorcycle driver and the armed passenger sped away after the attack, which happened around 7:30 p.m., he said.

In southern Pakistan, a policeman shot and killed the presiding officer of a polling station whom he was supposed to be guarding, according to the army.

Two other polling staff members were injured in the gunfire, which followed an argument between the policeman and the polling officer. Watch how distrust pervades Pakistan's election process »

Police said the polling station staff refused to work under police supervision and demanded Pakistani forces be deployed for their protection.

The policeman was part of a security detail transporting the polling staff and ballot boxes. The staff were setting up the polling station in the Sindh province town of Makli for Monday's election.

Balochistan police reported a series of blasts in the province on Sunday.

A hand grenade was lobbed into the Quetta offices of the MQM party around 9 p.m., injuring four party workers, police said.

Two other explosions struck boys' high schools in Balochistan being used as polling stations for Monday's vote.

One struck a boys' school in the northeast part of the province around 3 a.m. Around the same time, a rocket struck a government building in southern Balochistan. An explosion was also reported at a boys' school in Surab. No injuries were reported in those attacks.

Pakistani voters Monday will choose a new parliament in an election initially delayed by a six-week emergency declaration imposed by President Pervez Musharraf in November. The vote was postponed a second time after riots following the December 27 assassination of opposition party chief and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

On Saturday, a suicide car bomb killed 40 people when it exploded in front of an election office of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party in Parachinar, located in the country's tribal region.

A series of other blasts rocked Pakistan's northwest tribal region Saturday. There were injuries reported, but no deaths. E-mail to a friend

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