Bengaluru/Belagavi: Two districts of Karnataka on Wednesday received 2.52 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, as Health Minister K Sudhakar said the state would soon also get 20,000 doses of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.

According to the minister, the only difference between the two vaccines is Covishield has five ml of the vaccine in a vial and Covaxin has 10 ml.

One vial can vaccinate 20 people. Both the vaccines will be given in the state, he said, adding that the vaccination drive will start from January 16 in line with the Centre's guidelines.

Frontline workers will get the vaccine first.

Bengaluru and Belagavi on Wednesday received 1.05 lakh and 1.47 lakh doses of Covishield from the Pune-based Serum Institute of India respectively, health officials said.

The 1.47 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccines packed in 14,700 bottles had arrived in Belagavi early today, they added.

District Health Officer of Belagavi Dr. Shashikant Munyal said the vaccine stock of Covishield is meant for distribution in eight districts.

"Each bottle covers 10 dose units and will be administered twice whereas the second dose will be given after 28 days."

"After administering the dose, each person will be observed for three hours and will be discharged if no side effects are noticed," Munyal said.

The first consignment of about 6.48 lakh doses of Covishield had arrived in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

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Ahmedabad, Apr 25: The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended from the party for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed.

A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".

"To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.

"People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party," the press note said.

Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on April 21 after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document was not theirs.

The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.

In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.

Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22 after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.