k old post but no one use list expression to answer :P
list =[ ['a','b'], ['a','c'], ['b','d'] ]
Search = 'c'
# return if it find in either item 0 or item 1
print [x for x,y in list if x == Search or y == Search]
# return if it find in item 1
print [x for x,y in list if y == Search]