1999 Indian general election in Bihar

Indian general election in Bihar, 1999
18 September–3 October
54 seats
Turnout	61.48%
	Bihar
Prime Minister before election; Atal Bihari Vajpayee; BJP	Prime Minister after election ; Atal Bihari Vajpayee; BJP

The 1999 Indian general election in Bihar were held for 54 seats with the state going to polls in the last three phases of the general elections. The major contenders in the state were the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Congress led alliance.^[1] NDA, an alliance formed in last election, consisted of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) whereas the Congress led alliance was constituted of the Indian National Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), Communist Party of India and the Marxist Co-ordination Committee.

The results indicated the complete reversal of the last election, NDA secured landslide victory winning 41 out of 54 seats.^[2] Bihar emerged as most successful state for NDA, winning most seats in any state, leading to their huge victory under Vajpayee in the election.

The results were huge setbacks for Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) limiting their seats to just 7, even RJD Supremo Laloo Prasad Yadav lost his election from Madhepura constituency to Sharad Yadav of Janata Dal (United) in close fight by 30320 votes.^[3]

Election schedule

The polling schedule for the 1999 General Elections was announced by the Chief Election Commissioner on 11 July 1999.

Poll event	Phase
Poll event	III	IV	V
Notification date	21 August	30 August	07 September
Last date for filing nomination	28 August	06 September	14 September
Scrutiny of nomination	30 August	07 September	15 September
Last Date for withdrawal of nomination	01 September	09 September	17 September
Date of poll	18 September	25 September	03 October
Date of counting of votes/Result	6 October 1999

Voting Phases
III (19 seats)	IV (19 seats)	V (16 seats)

Dumka Godda Sasaram Bikramganj Aurangabad Jahanabad Nawada Gaya Chatra Kodaram Giridh Dhanbad Hazaribagh Ranchi Jamshedpur Singbhum Khunti Lohardagav Palamau	Bagaha Bettiah Motihari Gopalganj Siwan Maharajganj Chapra Hajipur Vaishali Muzaffarpur Darbhanga Barh Balia Munger Begusarai Nalanda Patna Arrah Buxar	Sitamarhi Sheohar Madhubani Jhanjharpur Rosera Samastipur Saharsa Madhepura Araria Kishanganj Purnia Katihar Banka Bhagalpur Khagaria Rajmahal

Parties and alliances

National Democratic Alliance

	Leader	Seats contested
Bharatiya Janata Party	Nand Kishore Yadav	29
Janata Dal (United)	Sharad Yadav	23
Bihar People's Party	Anand Mohan Singh	2

Congress Alliance

	Leader	Seats contested
Rashtriya Janata Dal	Lalu Prasad Yadav	35 + 1^[a]
Indian National Congress	Sadanand Singh	15 + 1^[b]
Communist Party of India (Marxist)	Subodh Roy	2
Marxist Co-ordination Committee	A. K. Roy	1
Communist Party of India	Indrajit Gupta	1 + 8^[c]

Candidates

Constituency		NDA			UPA
No.	Name	Party		Candidate	Party		Candidate
1	Bagaha (SC)		JD(U)	Mahendra Baitha		RJD	Purnmasi Ram
2	Bettiah		BJP	Madan Prasad Jaiswal		RJD	Mataour Rahman
2	Bettiah		BJP	Madan Prasad Jaiswal		CPI	Triveni Tiwari
3	Motihari		BJP	Radha Mohan Singh		RJD	Rama Devi
4	Gopalganj		JD(U)	Raghunath Jha		RJD	Kali Prasad Pandey
5	Siwan		JD(U)	Akhlaq Ahmed		RJD	Mohammad Shahabuddin
6	Maharajganj		JD(U)	Prabhunath Singh		INC	Mahachandra Prasad Singh
7	Chapra		BJP	Rajiv Pratap Rudy		RJD	Hira Lal Rai
8	Hajipur (SC)		JD(U)	Ram Vilas Paswan		RJD	Ramai Ram
9	Vaishali		BPP	Lovely Anand		RJD	Raghuvansh Prasad Singh
10	Muzaffarpur		JD(U)	Jai Narain Prasad Nishad		RJD	Mahendra Sahni
11	Sitamarhi		JD(U)	Nawal Kishore Rai		RJD	Suryadeo Rai
12	Sheohar		BPP	Anand Mohan Singh		RJD	Md Anwarul Haque
13	Madhubani		BJP	Hukmdev Narayan Yadav		INC	Shakeel Ahmad
13	Madhubani		BJP	Hukmdev Narayan Yadav		CPI	Bhogendra Jha
14	Jhanjharpur		JD(U)	Devendra Prasad Yadav		RJD	Surendra Prasad Yadav
15	Darbhanga		BJP	Kirti Azad		RJD	Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatmi
16	Rosera (SC)		JD(U)	Ram Chandra Paswan		RJD	Pitambar Paswan
17	Samastipur		JD(U)	Manjay Lal		RJD	Ashok Singh
18	Barh		JD(U)	Nitish Kumar		RJD	Vijay Krishna
19	Balia		JD(U)	Ramjivan Singh		RJD	Ashok Kumar
19	Balia		JD(U)	Ramjivan Singh		CPI	Shatrughan Prasad Singh
20	Saharsa		JD(U)	Dinesh Chandra Yadav		RJD	Surya Narayan Yadav
21	Madhepura		JD(U)	Sharad Yadav		RJD	Lalu Prasad
22	Araria (SC)		BJP	Parmanand Rishidev		RJD	Sukdeo Paswan
23	Kishanganj		BJP	Syed Shahnawaz Hussain		RJD	Taslimuddin
24	Purnea		BJP	Jai Krishna Mandal		CPI(M)	Abdul Khalil Ahmad
25	Katihar		BJP	Nikhil Kumar Choudhary		INC	Mubarak Hussain
26	Rajmahal (ST)		BJP	Som Marandi		INC	Thomas Hansda
27	Dumka (ST)		BJP	Babu Lal Marandi		INC	Ramesh Hembram
28	Godda		BJP	Jagadambi Prasad Yadav		RJD	Javed Iqbal Ansari
						INC	Furqan Ansari
						CPI	Sanjay Kumar
29	Banka		JD(U)	Digvijay Singh		RJD	Shakuni Choudhary
30	Bhagalpur		BJP	Prabhas Chandra Tiwari		CPI(M)	Subodh Ray
31	Khagaria		JD(U)	Renu Kumari		RJD	Nayana Rana
31	Khagaria		JD(U)	Renu Kumari		CPI	Satyanarayan Singh
32	Monghyr		JD(U)	Brahmanand Mandal		RJD	Bijoy Kumar Bijoy
33	Begusarai		JD(U)	Shyam Sundar Singh		INC	Rajo Singh
34	Nalanda		JD(U)	George Fernandes		CPI	Gaya Singh
35	Patna		BJP	C P Thakur		RJD	Ram Kripal Yadav
36	Arrah		JD(U)	H P Singh		RJD	Ram Prasad Kushwaha
37	Buxar		BJP	Lalmuni Chaubey		RJD	Shivanand Tiwary
37	Buxar		BJP	Lalmuni Chaubey		CPI	Tej Narayan Singh
38	Sasaram (SC)		BJP	Muni Lall		RJD	Ram Keshi Bharati
39	Bikramganj		JD(U)	Vashisht Narayan Singh		RJD	Kanti Singh
40	Aurangabad		JD(U)	Sushil Kumar Singh		INC	Shyama Singh
41	Jahanabad		JD(U)	Arun Kumar		RJD	Surendra Prasad Yadav
42	Nawada (SC)		BJP	Sanjay Paswan		RJD	Vijay Kumar Chaudhary
43	Gaya (SC)		BJP	Ramji Manjhi		RJD	Rajesh Kumar
44	Chatra		BJP	Dhirendra Agarwal		RJD	Nagmani
45	Kodarma		BJP	Rati Lal Prasad Verma		INC	Tilakdhari Singh
46	Giridih		BJP	Ravindra Kumar Pandey		INC	Rajendra Prasad Singh
47	Dhanbad		BJP	Rita Verma		MCC	A. K. Roy
48	Hazaribagh		BJP	Yashwant Sinha		RJD	Aklu Ram Mahto
						INC	Ishwari Ram Paswan
						CPI	Ramendra Kumar
49	Ranchi		BJP	Ram Tahal Choudhary		INC	K. K. Tewary
50	Jamshedpur		BJP	Abha Mahato		INC	Ghanashyam Mahato
50	Jamshedpur		BJP	Abha Mahato		CPI	Dulal Munshi
51	Singhbhum (ST)		BJP	Laxman Gilua		INC	Vijay Singh Soy
52	Khunti (ST)		BJP	Kariya Munda		INC	Sushila Kerketta
53	Lohardaga (ST)		BJP	Dukha Bhagat		INC	Indra Nath Bhagat
54	Palamu (SC)		BJP	Braj Mohan Ram		RJD	Jorawar Ram

Voting and results

Alliance/ Party				Popular vote			Seats
Alliance/ Party				Votes	%	±pp	Contested	Won	+/−
	NDA		BJP	82,04,850	23.01	1.02	29	23	3
			JD(U)	74,05,701	20.77	New	23	18	18
			BPP	6,07,810	1.70	New	2	0
		Total		1,62,18,361	45.48		54	41
	RJD+		RJD	1,00,85,302	28.29	1.71	30 + 6	7	10
			INC	31,42,603	8.81	1.54	12 + 4	4	1
			CPI(M)	3,50,958	0.98	0.58	2	1	1
			CPI	9,59,705	2.69	0.71	1 + 8	0
			MCC	3,51,839	0.99	0.28	1	0
		Total		1,48,90,407	41.76		46 + 18	12
	CPI(M-L)L			8,79,081	2.47	0.35	23	0
	JMM			7,27,510	2.04	0.41	13	0
	NCP			4,76,004	1.34	New	19	0
	BSP			3,38,049	0.95	0.42	30	0
	Others			6,40,534	1.80		107	0
	IND			14,82,483	4.16	2.19	187	1	1
Total				3,56,52,429	100%	-	497	54	-

Constituency Wise Results

Constituency		Winner					Runner-up					Margin
Constituency		Candidate	Party		Votes	%	Candidate	Party		Votes	%	Votes	%
1	Bagaha (SC)	Mahendra Baitha		JD(U)	261,498	45.86	Purnmasi Ram		RJD	206,747	36.25	54,751	9.61
2	Bettiah	Dr Madan Prasad Jaiswal		BJP	343,027	49.78	Mataour Rahman		RJD	303,377	44.03	39,650	5.75
3	Motihari	Radha Mohan Singh		BJP	338,696	50.02	Rama Devi		RJD	317,026	46.82	21,670	3.20
4	Gopalganj	Raghunath Jha		JD(U)	365,107	49.22	Kali Prasad Pandey		RJD	328,983	44.35	36,124	4.87
5	Siwan	M. Sahabuddin		RJD	385,069	54.83	Amarnath Yadav		CPI(ML)	255,229	36.34	129,840	18.49
6	Maharajganj	Prabhunath Singh		JD(U)	398,475	57.15	Mahachandra Prasad Singh		INC	294,412	42.22	104,063	14.93
7	Chapra	Rajiv Pratap Rudy		BJP	390,477	50.71	Hira Lal Rai		RJD	346,924	45.05	43,553	5.66
8	Hajipur (SC)	Ram Vilas Paswan		JD(U)	434,609	55.75	Ramai Ram		RJD	329,105	42.21	105,504	13.54
9	Vaishali	Raghuvansh Prasad Singh		RJD	308,458	43.46	Lovely Anand		BPP	263,066	37.06	45,392	6.40
10	Muzaffarpur	Captain Jai N. Prasad Nishad		JD(U)	363,820	50.56	Mahendra Sahni		RJD	303,100	42.12	60,720	8.44
11	Sitamarhi	Nawal Kishore Rai		JD(U)	410,557	55.28	Suryadeo Rai		RJD	309,300	41.64	101,257	13.64
12	Sheohar	Md Anwarul Haque		RJD	347,279	48.51	Anand Mohan		BPP	344,744	48.15	2,535	0.36
13	Madhubani	Hukmdev Narayan Yadav		BJP	328,616	46.48	Dr Shakil Ahmad		INC	266,001	37.63	62,615	8.85
14	Jhanjharpur	Devendra Prasad Yadav		JD(U)	375,852	55.73	Surendra Prasad Yadav		RJD	248,038	36.78	127,814	18.95
15	Darbhanga	Kirti Azad		BJP	395,549	52.16	Md Ali Ashraf Fatmi		RJD	340,001	44.84	55,548	7.32
16	Rosera (SC)	Ram Chandra Paswan		JD(U)	420,564	58.11	Pitambar Paswan		RJD	277,648	38.36	142,916	19.75
17	Samastipur	Manjay Lal		JD(U)	368,776	46.62	Ashok Singh		RJD	356,088	45.02	12,688	1.60
18	Barh	Nitish Kumar		JD(U)	362,016	48.23	Vijay Krishna		RJD	360,681	48.05	1,335	0.18
19	Balia	Ramjivan Singh		JD(U)	169,443	33.93	Ashok Kumar		RJD	157,411	31.52	12,032	2.41
20	Saharsa	Dinesh Chandra Yadav		JD(U)	392,926	54.45	Surya Narayan Yadav		RJD	298,433	41.36	94,493	13.09
21	Madhepura	Sharad Yadav		JD(U)	328,761	50.70	Lalu Prasad Yadav		RJD	298,441	46.02	30,320	4.68
22	Araria (SC)	Sukdeo Paswan		RJD	308,579	48.32	Parmanand Rishidev		BJP	306,410	47.98	2,169	0.34
23	Kishanganj	Syed Shahnawaz Hussain		BJP	258,035	35.96	Taslimuddin		RJD	249,387	34.75	8,648	1.21
24	Purnea	Rajesh Ranjan		IND	438,193	63.17	Jay Krishna Mandal		BJP	185,627	26.76	252,566	36.41
25	Katihar	Nikhil Kumar Choudhary		BJP	280,911	43.92	Tariq Anwar		NCP	144,059	22.52	136,852	21.40
26	Rajmahal (ST)	Thomas Hansda		INC	250,298	44.68	Som Marandi		BJP	188,199	33.59	62,099	11.09
27	Dumka (ST)	Babulal Marandi		BJP	201,141	36.87	Rupi Soren Kisku		JMM	196,493	36.02	4,648	0.85
28	Godda	Jagdambi Prasad Yadav		BJP	221,191	34.91	Suraj Mandal		JMM	141,299	22.30	79,892	12.61
29	Banka	Digvijay Singh		JD(U)	233,453	37.28	Giridhari Yadav		IND	212,045	33.86	21,408	3.42
30	Bhagalpur	Subodh Roy		CPI(M)	321,159	47.94	Prabhash Chandra Tiwari		BJP	275,619	41.15	45,540	6.79
31	Khagaria	Renu Kumari		JD(U)	293,412	44.29	Nayana Rana		RJD	261,590	39.49	31,822	4.80
32	Monghyr	Brahmanand Mandal		JD(U)	346,615	49.15	Bijoy Kumar Bijoy		RJD	324,800	46.05	21,815	3.10
33	Begusarai	Rajo Singh		INC	318,244	50.10	Shyam Sundar Singh		JD(U)	298,294	46.96	19,950	3.14
34	Nalanda	George Fernandes		JD(U)	464,458	53.29	Gaya Singh		CPI	358,637	41.15	105,821	12.14
35	Patna	C. P. Thakur		BJP	379,370	47.30	Ram Kripal Yadav		RJD	332,478	41.45	46,892	5.85
36	Arrah	Ram Prasad Singh		RJD	264,140	38.74	H. P. Singh		JD(U)	171,858	25.21	92,282	13.53
37	Buxar	Lal Muni Choubey		BJP	235,968	39.15	Shivanand Tiwari		RJD	224,362	37.22	11,606	1.93
38	Sasaram (SC)	Muni Lall		BJP	257,223	39.37	Ram Keshi Bharati		RJD	238,547	36.51	18,676	2.86
39	Bikramganj	Kanti Singh		RJD	346,259	47.12	Vashisht Narayan Singh		JD(U)	311,491	42.38	34,768	4.74
40	Aurangabad	Shyama Singh		INC	317,418	47.05	Sushil Kumar Singh		JD(U)	247,002	36.61	70,416	10.44
41	Jahanabad	Arun Kumar		JD(U)	333,332	42.99	Surendra Prasad Yadav		RJD	316,045	40.77	17,287	2.22
42	Nawada (SC)	Sanjay Paswan		BJP	453,943	53.38	Vijay Kumar Choudhary		RJD	369,858	43.49	84,085	9.89
43	Gaya (SC)	Ramji Manjhi		BJP	319,530	50.21	Rajesh Kumar		RJD	298,747	46.94	20,783	3.27
44	Chatra	Nagmani		RJD	219,783	52.73	Dhirendra Agrawal		BJP	164,684	39.51	55,099	13.22
45	Kodarma	Tilakdhari Prasad Singh		INC	273,808	46.02	Ritlal Prasad Verma		BJP	263,630	44.31	10,178	1.71
46	Giridih	Ravindra Kumar Pandey		BJP	248,454	46.70	Rajendra Prasad Singh		INC	228,630	42.97	19,824	3.73
47	Dhanbad	Rita Verma		BJP	366,065	48.07	A. K. Roy		MCC	351,839	46.21	14,226	1.86
48	Hazaribagh	Yashwant Sinha		BJP	283,956	47.98	Akalu Ram Mahto		RJD	101,314	17.12	182,642	30.86
49	Ranchi	Ram Tahal Choudhary		BJP	379,261	65.72	K. K. Tewari		INC	138,084	23.93	241,177	41.79
50	Jamshedpur	Abha Mahato		BJP	285,232	45.40	Ghanashyam Mahato		INC	163,744	26.06	121,488	19.34
51	Singhbhum (ST)	Laxman Gilua		BJP	231,237	49.04	Vijay Singh Soy		INC	148,926	31.59	82,311	17.45
52	Khunti (ST)	Kariya Munda		BJP	187,484	46.31	Sushila Kerketta		INC	161,222	39.82	26,262	6.49
53	Lohardaga (ST)	Dukha Bhagat		BJP	163,658	45.02	Indra Nath Bhagat		INC	159,835	43.97	3,823	1.05
54	Palamu (SC)	Braj Mohan Ram		BJP	271,657	53.37	Jorawar Ram		RJD	186,532	36.65	85,125	16.72

Assembly Segment wise lead

Party		Assembly segments	Position in Assembly (as of 2000 election)
	Bharatiya Janata Party	107	67
	Janata Dal (United)	89	21
	Rashtriya Janata Dal	70	124
	Indian National Congress	23	23
	Jharkhand Mukti Morcha	6	12
	Communist Party of India	5	5
	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	4	2
	Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation	3	6
	Marxist Co-ordination Committee	3	1
	Bihar People's Party	3	0
	Nationalist Congress Party	2	0
	Others	9	63
Total		324

Post-election Union Council of Ministers from Bihar (and Jharkhand)

Bihar

#	Name	Constituency	Designation	Department	From	To
1	George Fernandes	Nalanda	Cabinet Minister	Defence	13 October 1999	16 March 2001	SAP
1	George Fernandes	Nalanda	Cabinet Minister	Defence	15 October 2001	22 May 2004	JD(U)
2	Nitish Kumar	Barh	Cabinet Minister	Surface Transport	13 October 1999	22 November 1999	SAP
				Agriculture	22 November 1999	3 March 2001
				Agriculture	27 May 2001	22 July 2001
				Railways	20 March 2001	22 May 2004	JD(U)
3	Ram Vilas Paswan	Hajipur (SC)	Cabinet Minister	Communications	13 October 1999	1 September 2001	LJP
				Coal	1 September 2001	29 April 2002
				Mines	1 September 2001	29 April 2002
4	Sharad Yadav	Madhepura	Cabinet Minister	Civil Aviation	13 October 1999	1 September 2001	SAP
				Labour	1 September 2001	1 July 2002	SAP
				Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution	1 July 2002	22 May 2004	JD(U)
5	C. P. Thakur	Patna	Cabinet Minister	Water Resources	22 November 1999	27 May 2000	BJP
				Health and Family Welfare	27 May 2000	1 July 2002
				Small Scale Industries	29 January 2003	22 May 2004
				Development of North Eastern Region	29 January 2003	22 May 2004
6	Shatrughan Sinha	Rajya Sabha (Bihar)	Cabinet Minister	Health and Family Welfare	1 July 2002	29 January 2003
6	Shatrughan Sinha	Rajya Sabha (Bihar)	Cabinet Minister	Shipping	29 January 2003	22 May 2004
7	Syed Shahnawaz Hussain	Kishanganj	MoS	Food Processing Industries	13 October 1999	27 May 2000
				Youth Affairs and Sports	27 May 2000	30 September 2000
				Human Resource Development	30 September 2000	8 February 2001
			MoS (I/C)	Coal	8 February 2001	1 September 2001
			Cabinet Minister	Civil Aviation	1 September 2001	24 May 2003
			Cabinet Minister	Textiles	24 May 2003	22 May 2004
8	Rajiv Pratap Rudy	Chapra	MoS	Commerce and Industry	1 September 2002	24 May 2003
8	Rajiv Pratap Rudy	Chapra	MoS (I/C)	Civil Aviation	24 May 2003	22 May 2004
9	Digvijay Singh	Banka	MoS	Railways	13 October 1999	22 July 2001	SAP
				Commerce and Industry	22 July 2001	1 September 2001	BJP
				Railways	1 August 2001	1 July 2002	SAP
				External Affairs	1 July 2002	22 May 2004	JD(U)
10	Muni Lall	Sasaram (SC)	MoS	Labour	13 October 1999	1 July 2002	BJP
11	Hukmdev Narayan Yadav	Madhubani	MoS	Agriculture	13 October 1999	27 May 2000
				Surface Transport	27 May 2000	2 November 2001
				Shipping	7 November 2000	2 November 2001
				Agriculture	2 November 2001	22 May 2004
12	Ravi Shankar Prasad	Rajya Sabha (Bihar)	MoS	Mines	1 September 2001	29 January 2003
				Coal	1 September 2001	29 January 2003
				Law and Justice	1 July 2002	29 January 2003
			MoS (I/C)	Information and Broadcasting	29 January 2003	22 May 2004
13	Sanjay Paswan	Nawada (SC)	MoS	Communications and Information Technology	1 July 2002	29 January 2003
				Social Justice and Empowerment	29 January 2003	24 May 2003
				Human Resource Development	24 May 2003	22 May 2004
14	Nikhil Kumar Choudhary	Katihar	MoS	Agro and Rural Industries	1 July 2002	29 January 2003

Jharkhand

#	Name	Constituency	Designation	Department	From	To
1	Yashwant Sinha	Hazaribagh	Cabinet Minister	Finance	13 October 1999	1 July 2002	BJP
1	Yashwant Sinha	Hazaribagh	Cabinet Minister	External Affairs	1 July 2002	22 May 2004
2	Kariya Munda	Khunti (ST)	Cabinet Minister	Agro and Rural Industries	1 September 2001	29 January 2003
				Coal	29 January 2003	9 January 2004
				Non-Conventional Energy Sources	9 January 2004	22 May 2004
3	Babulal Marandi	Dumka (ST)	MoS	Environment and Forests	13 October 1999	7 November 2000
4	Rita Verma	Dhanbad	MoS	Mines and Minerals	13 October 1999	30 September 2000
				Health and Family Welfare	27 May 2000	30 September 2000
				Rural Development	30 September 2000	1 September 2001
				Human Resource Development	1 September 2001	29 January 2003
5	Nagmani	Chatra	MoS	Social Justice and Empowerment	24 May 2003	22 May 2004

NOTE: Babulal Marandi: Resigned in November 2000 to become the first Chief Minister of Jharkhand.

References

Notes

^ Friendly Contest on Godda and Hazaribagh between INC and RJD.
^ Friendly Contest on Godda and Hazaribagh between INC and RJD.
^ CPI Contested only Nalanda constituency under the alliance of INC and RJD.

[1] "IndiaVotes | India's largest election database".

[2] "With Modi becoming BJP's darling, will JDU's Nitish Kumar leave alliance?". 30 November 1999.

[3] "Madhepura: Twice beaten by Lalu, Sharad now RJD nominee".

[4] Friendly Contest on Godda and Hazaribagh between INC and RJD.

[5] Friendly Contest on Godda and Hazaribagh between INC and RJD.

[6] CPI Contested only Nalanda constituency under the alliance of INC and RJD.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[a]

[b]

[c]