Dilli Chaudhary has been unanimously elected the Nepali Congress provincial assembly leader in Lumbini province.

A meeting of Congress provincial assembly members held on Monday elected Chaudhary to the post, according to Amar Singh Pun, Congress provincial president.

Besides Chaudhary, the other leaders eyeing the post were Abdul Rajjak of Rupandehi, Bir Bahadur Rana of Palpa and Raju Khanal of Dang.

Chaudhary was elected as a provincial assembly member from Dang electoral constituency no 3 (A) for the second term. He is currently the Minister for Tourism, Rural and Urban Development in the provincial government. Chaudhary, who was also a member of the Constituent Assembly, is considered close to Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba.

The Nepali Congress has 27 seats, including 17 under the first-past-the-post and 10 under the proportional representation electoral system in the 87-member Lumbini Province Assembly. The CPN-UML is the largest party in the Assembly with 29 seats.