Ed Miliband can pick which roles the successful candidates are given Defeated leadership candidates Andy Burnham, Ed Balls and Diane Abbott are among 49 MPs standing for elections to Labour’s shadow cabinet.
Former cabinet ministers Alan Johnson, Tessa Jowell and Yvette Cooper have also entered the ballot for 19 posts – elected by Labour MPs.
Rosie Winterton is the only name entered for the ballot for chief whip.
Earlier David Miliband said he would return to the backbenches, having lost the leadership to his brother Ed.
The former foreign secretary told the BBC his brother needed a “clean field” to lead as he saw fit.
Another face from the previous government who will not be part of the new team is the current chief whip, Nick Brown.
He had intended to stand again but decided against entering his name into the separate chief whip ballot after Ed Miliband told him he wanted a “fresh start” for his leadership.
Among those standing are the remaining defeated leadership candidates and other former cabinet ministers; Hilary Benn, Ben Bradshaw, Liam Byrne, John Denham, Peter Hain, Stephen Timms, Shaun Woodward and Jim Murphy.
Sadiq Khan, who ran Ed Miliband’s leadership campaign, is also standing, as is Caroline Flint, who quit as Europe minister in Gordon Brown’s cabinet accusing him of treating women like “window dressing”.
Labour’s shadow cabinet is elected by MPs when the party is in opposition – elections will be held every two years. The leader and deputy leader are elected separately. The chief whip is also elected separately to serve a full parliament.
Nominations for the shadow cabinet elections closed at 1700 BST and voting will take place between 4 and 7 October.
Earlier this month Labour MPs rejected a move to change the rules to allow the party leader to choose who serves on the shadow cabinet but elections were limited to every two years – before 1997 it used to be every year.
However Mr Miliband will be able to pick which roles the successful candidates are given.
Under new rules agreed earlier this month, there must be a minimum of six female MPs in Labour’s shadow cabinet.
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