Sunday View: The Best Weekend Opinion Reads, Curated Just For You We sifted through the papers and found the best opinion reads, so you wouldn’t have to. Anti-Incumbency May Spur State Election Surprises “Analysts underestimate the strength of anti-incumbency. This is strong in difficult economic conditions, and Covid has wrecked the economy, though recovery has begun”, writes SA Aiyar for The Times of India. To contradict the anti-incumbency theory, Aiyar notes that analysts emphasise Narendra Modi’s spectacular re-election with increased seats in the 2019 general election, and Nitish Kumar’s retention of power in Bihar in 2020. “In sum, anti-incumbency runs strong regardless of parties. This owes something to the halving of economic growth between 2016-17 and 2019-20. In the 1990s, when economic growth was uneven, three quarters of incumbents lost elections. Then in the economic boom of the 2000s, three-quarters of incumbents began winning. A new breed of chief ministers in backward states combined a clean image with accelerated economic growth. Growth slowed in the 2010s, and anti-incumbency rose again”SA Aiyar for