In a statement following his selection Sharma thanked party members for the “opportunity to hold the Albanese government to account in the Senate over its many missteps and wrong decisions,and to fight for the many households across NSW struggling to deal with Labor’s cost of living crisis”.

“I believe strongly in the need to safeguard Australia’s future for our children,and so I have always been drawn to public service. The opportunity to serve in the Senate will allow me to fight for our nation’s national security interests in a time of greater global turmoil,” he said.

The Liberal Party Senate vote works on a preferential system. After each round,the candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated. Despite Constance leading for the majority of the vote,he was overtaken after Seselja was eliminated in the seventh round of voting. Those ballots favoured Sharma 36 to 21,giving him enough to take the lead.

Seselja’s defeat is a blow for the party’s conservative faction after he was heavily backed by Dutton,as well as Tony Abbott and current Liberal frontbenchers Jacinta Nampijinpa Price,Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor.

A former minister for the pacific under Scott Morrison,Seselja’s nomination ruffled some feathers within the NSW division of the party after he previously served as leader of the opposition in the ACT and as a senator from the Territory.

Despite being “shocked” by the result,senior NSW moderate sources,who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential vote,said it was the second preselection in a row in which moderates had “won the gold and the silver”.

“It just shows how out of sorts the right are,” the sources said. “They can’t even come second.”

After the vote,Deputy Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley released a statement hailing Sharma as a fitting replacement for Payne due to his foreign policy background,and said he would help the Liberals win back seats lost to Teal independents during the last federal election.

“Dave is someone who very much appeals to that cohort of voters which we need to win in 2025,” she said.

Sharma is likely to take up his spot in weeks,after it is confirmed by a vote in the NSW Parliament to take place this week.

Despite enjoying the backing of the right,the vote for Seselja was complicated by support for former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet’s one-time chief policy advisor,Monica Tudehope.

Tudehope,the daughter of former NSW finance minister and upper house MP Damien Tudehope,was supported by Perrottet,who released a video in the lead-up to the vote calling her the party’s “future”,and his former chief of staff turned Business Council of Australia chief Bran Black.

Her candidacy also won support from some sections of the party’s moderates,including the group Hilma’s Network,which seeks to promote more female MPs in the Liberal Party’s ranks,meaning the final result remained uncertain as preselectors began voting on Sunday afternoon.

The crowded field included former RSL NSW president James Brown,and lesser-known candidates including the Lowy Institute researcher Jess Collins,barrister Ishita Sethi,lawyer Pallavi Sinha and solicitor Nim Rutnam.

It made for a long afternoon in which candidates pitched themselves to delegates before a question and answer session,followed by a preferential vote,which was delayed when the online server used to conduct the ballot crashed.

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