CHENNAI: The Madras high court has restrained authorities from collecting boothwise details of voters who exercised the 49 (O) option in the April 13 elections to the state assembly.Rule 49 (O) of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, deals with the right of a voter not to vote for any of the contesting candidates.A petition, filed by advocated S Sathiachandran, alleged that the police were collecting personal details of those who opted for Rule 49(O) while exercising their franchise. "We learnt from Tamil newspapers that the director general of police and superintendent of police, Q Branch, have unleashed an unsustainable imagination that those who opted for Rule 49(O) could have links with Naxalites and are branded as violators of law," the petition said. It said 24,591 voters opted for the 49(O) option in the elections.Alleging that the authorities had collected the personal particulars of voters and were treating them as suspects and violators of law, Sathiachandran termed the moves as "wholly mischievous, illegal and violative of the fundamental right enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution.""The district electoral officers have no power to furnish the details contained in Form 17A to any person other than the officials of the Election Commission. The action of the respondents in harassing the voters is a larger conspiracy which would result in preventing them from exercising the 49(O) option in future elections, defeating its very objective which is the right to dissent," the petition said.Passing orders on the matter, the first bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam directed the chief electoral officer, DGP and Q Branch SP to file counter-affidavits.