A few days ago, Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah landed himself in a controversy when, during a public meeting, he talked of using the armed force to take people to polling booths. He, however, denied it later.

Shah today stressed that the only way to counter poll boycott by the Hurriyat Conference at the behest of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) is to forcibly make people come out and vote.

``If Pakistan can use force to get the polls boycotted here, why can't we counter them by using our security forces to forcibly make people come out and vote? This will be a slap on the face of ISI,'' he said in an exclusive interview to The Indian Express.

Shah, who is looking after the NC campaigning in Anantnag-Pulwama constituency, blamed both the BJP Government at the Centre and the security forces for the low voterturnout in the Valley during the Parliamentary elections.

``I don't understand what the Central Government is up to. If the security forces could have generated confidence among voters in 1996, when militancy was at its peak, why not this time?'' Shah said.

Shah fears this is a deliberate policy of security forces and the Central Government to show failure of NC Government in restoring peace in the State. ``It seems they are deliberately encouraging poll boycott,'' he added.

Shah said that despite the presence of security forces in different villages of Anantnag, miscreants not only succeeded in pasting posters threatening people against voting but also carried out their propaganda speeches.

Unleashing a tirade against the BJP Government, he said: ``The only solution to counter militancy is to give boost to developmental works. More they (BJP) make the people suffer, more will be the outcry of people against India.''