Corrections to the record
Expunged and excluded remarks in official records
Short answer
- Lok Sabha
- Speaker, Rule 380. Marked under Rule 381 1
- Rajya Sabha
- Chairman, Rule 261. Marked under Rule 262 2
- US House
- Deletion of unparliamentary remarks only by permission or order of the House 3
- Kenya National Assembly
- Speaker may exclude secret or purely personal matter, Standing Order 249 4
- Canada, committees
- Power to print includes the right not to print, which may extend to omitting evidence 5
Expunging is not correcting
A correction fixes how words were reported. An expunction removes words that were in fact spoken. In India, Lok Sabha Rule 380 lets the Speaker order words used in debate to be expunged from the proceedings of the House where the Speaker is of opinion they are defamatory or indecent or unparliamentary or undignified 1. Rajya Sabha Rule 261 gives the presiding officer of the Council the same discretion on the same grounds 2.
A Member's ordinary correction rights are narrower. Kenya's Standing Order 248(2), for example, lets a Member correct the draft verbatim report of their contribution but not alter the substance of what they actually said 4.
How the gap is shown
Indian rules require the gap to be visible. Under Lok Sabha Rule 381 and Rajya Sabha Rule 262, the expunged portion is marked by asterisks and an explanatory footnote is inserted, reading Expunged as ordered by the Chair 1,2.
Lok Sabha rules apply a similar power to committee papers. The Speaker may order words, phrases or expressions to be expunged from a minute of dissent to a Select Committee report 1. Rajya Sabha rules give the committee Chairman a power to expunge words in a minute of dissent that are unparliamentary, irrelevant or otherwise inappropriate 2.
| Body | Who decides | Grounds | How it appears |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lok Sabha 1 | Speaker 1 | Defamatory, indecent, unparliamentary or undignified 1 | Asterisks and footnote 1 |
| Rajya Sabha 2 | Chairman 2 | Defamatory, indecent, unparliamentary or undignified 2 | Asterisks and footnote 2 |
| US House 3 | The House, not the Speaker 3 | Unparliamentary remarks, or abuse of leave to print 3 | Removed from the Record by order 3 |
| Kenya National Assembly 4 | Speaker 4 | Secret or purely personal matter 4 | Separate verbatim report held by the Clerk 4 |
United States House of Representatives
House Practice states that unparliamentary remarks may be deleted only by permission or order of the House, and that under clause 8(c) of rule XVII this requirement may be investigated by the Committee on Ethics 3. The remarks of a Member, if in order, cannot be stricken from the Congressional Record by the House 3.
Expungement can apply to inserted text. Extending remarks in the Record without the permission of the House is grounds for a question of the privilege of the House, and the House may expunge such remarks 3. A resolution to expunge remarks alleged to be an abuse of leave to print is privileged and debatable 3. As a general principle the Speaker has no control over the Congressional Record, and the authority to correct errors is vested in the House 3.
Kenya and Canada
Kenya's Standing Order 249 lets the Speaker direct that any matter which in the Speaker's opinion is secret or purely personal be excluded from the Journals and the verbatim report of the House and its committees 4. That matter goes into a separate verbatim report kept by the Clerk and made available only to Members 4.
In Canada, a Speaker's ruling held that a committee's power to print includes the right not to print, which may be extended to a decision to omit evidence from the record 5. The House of Commons Debates themselves are a report in extenso, and Members may not make material changes to the meaning of what was said 5.
What this means for a quote check
- A quote taken from a live broadcast may include words the official text no longer carries 1,2.
- In India, asterisks with the footnote Expunged as ordered by the Chair mark the point of removal 1,2.
- In the US House record, a Member's in-order remarks cannot be struck out by the House, so their absence needs another explanation 3.
- In Kenya, a passage excluded as secret or personal sits in a report open only to Members 4.
- A report that repeats expunged words is reporting what was said, not what the official record contains.
Common questions
What does expunged mean in Parliament?
It means the presiding officer or the House has ordered spoken words removed from the official record. In India the place is marked with asterisks and a footnote 1,2.
Can the Speaker of the US House remove words from the Congressional Record?
House Practice says the Speaker has no general control over the Record. Unparliamentary remarks may be deleted only by permission or order of the House 3.
Are expunged words in India gone from the record completely?
The words are removed from the proceedings and the gap is marked with asterisks and the note Expunged as ordered by the Chair 1,2.
Can Kenya's Speaker keep things out of Hansard?
Yes. Standing Order 249 lets the Speaker exclude secret or purely personal matter and keep it in a separate report for Members 4.
Rules and charges change. Check the official source linked on this page before you pay or travel. Spotted an error? Email hello@saidincontext.com.
Sources
- Lok Sabha Secretariat: Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, Seventeenth Edition (May 2024)
- Rajya Sabha Secretariat: Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha), Ninth Edition (Reprint February 2024)
- GovInfo: House Practice, A Guide to the Rules, Precedents and Procedures of the House, Chapter 15, Congressional Record
- National Assembly of Kenya: Standing Orders (7th Edition)
- House of Commons of Canada: Parliamentary Publications, The Parliamentary Record, House of Commons Procedure and Practice, Third edition, 2017
Related
- The official record of debates in India's Parliament
How the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha record their debates, the rules on expunged words and secret sittings, and the 1977 law protecting press reports.
- How parliaments correct the official record
Who may correct the official report in the UK, Scotland, Australia, Canada, the US House, Europe and India, what may change and by when.
- The Congressional Record explained
How the US Congressional Record is made, its four parts, how members revise and extend remarks, and where committee hearing transcripts are published.
- Hansard in the Parliament of Kenya
Kenya National Assembly rules on Hansard: 48 and 72 hour deadlines, Member corrections, the Speaker's role, secret matters and certified copies.
- What the official record leaves out, and what it adds
Secret sittings, private evidence, excluded matter, meetings with no record, and text added that was never spoken, across parliaments, Congress and the UN.