Well the answer is (b)
The explanation is as follows:
Number of ways of selection of 8 letters from 24 letters of which 8 are a, 8 are b, is given by following cases
1) 8a = 1
2) (7a,1b) ; (7a,1 letter other than a and b) = 1 + 8C1 = 1+8 = 9
3) (6a,2b); (6a,1b,1 other than a and b); (6a, 2 other than a and b) = 1+8C1+8C2
= 9 + 28 = 37
4) (5a,3b) and so on = 1+8C1+8C2 + 8C3 = 37 + 56 =93
5) (4a,4b)...and so on = 1+8C1+8C2 + 8C3+ 8C4= 93+70 = 163
6) (3a,5b)...and so on = 1+8C1+8C2 + 8C3+ 8C41+8C5 = 163+56 = 219
7) (2a,6b)...and so on= 1+8C1+8C2 + 8C3+ 8C41+8C5 1+8C6=219+28 = 247
8) (a,7b)....so on = 1+8C1+8C2 + 8C3+ 8C41+8C5 1+8C6+8C7=247+8 = 255
Similarly we can interchange the role of 'a' and 'b' to get exactly eight more cases as above.
so total number of possible selections are = 2(1+9+37+93+163+219+247+255)
= 2 x 1024 = 211 = 8 x 28