Sahota was born in India of Sikh Punjabi heritage, the son of a foundry worker who emigrated to England in 1957; he joined his father in 1966.

[2] Sahota, who had been active in his trade union at work in industry, was elected as a Labour councillor for Malinslee and Dawley Bank on Telford and Wrekin Council, serving from 2001 to 2023.

[2] Sahota stood as the Labour Party candidate for Telford at the 2017 general election, losing to Conservative incumbent Lucy Allan by a narrow margin of 720 votes.

In November 2019, at a hustings held in Church Stretton, Conservative candidate and incumbent MP Philip Dunne told Sahota that he was "talking through his turban".

In 2021 it was reported that Sahota was on the shortlist to be Labour candidate at the North Shropshire by-election, but in fact had not actually applied.