[23. (1) An authority competent to decide election disputes under this Act or the rules made thereunder may declare any candidate found to have committed any corrupt practice to be incapable, for any period not exceeding five years from the date of declaration, of being chosen [ * * * ] as a member of a [Kshettra Panchayat] or a [Zila Panchayat], or elected as a Pramukh of a [Kshettra Panchayat] or an Adhyaksha of a [Zila Panchayat], or of being appointed or retained in any office or place in the gift or disposal of a [Zila Panchayat] or a [Zila Panchayat].
(2) A person shall be deemed to have committed a corrupt practice, who directly or indirectly by himself or by any other person -
(i) induces, or attempts to induce, by fraud, intentional misrepresentation, coercion or threat of injury, any voter to give or to refrain from giving a vote in favour of any candidate ;
(ii) with a view to inducing any voter to give or to refrain from giving a vote in favour of any candidate, officer or gives any money, or valuable consideration or any place, or employment, or holds out any promise of individual advantage or profit to any person,
(iii) gives or procures the giving of a vote in the name of a voter who is not the person giving such vote ;
(iv) abets (within the meaning of the Indian Penal Code) the doing of any of the acts specified in clauses (i), (ii) and (iii) ;
(v) induces or attempts to induce a candidate or elector to believe that he, or any person in whom he is interested, will become or will be rendered an object of divine displeasure or spiritual censure ;
(vi) canvasses on grounds of caste, community, sect or religion ; or
(vii) commits such other practice as the State Government may, by rule, prescribe to be a corrupt practice.
Explanation - A "promise of individual advantage or profit to person" includes a promise for the benefit of the person himself, or of any one in whom he is interested, but does not include a promise to vote for or against any particular measure in a [Kshettra Panchayat] or [Zila Panchayat]