Landslide ends PM Modi's honeymoon

An anti-establishment party crushed India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in an election for the Delhi assembly on Tuesday, smashing an aura of invincibility built around Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he swept to power last year.

With the vote of the main national opposition Congress Party collapsing, the Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man Party, was set to capture more than 90 percent of the seats in Delhi, in what Modi's critics said was a warning against the partisan politics of Hindu hard-liners in his fold.

Winning power in India's states is critical for control of the upper house of Parliament, where Modi's party lacks a majority and has been thwarted in its effort to pass reforms, including wider opening up of the insurance sector.