Sarwar was elected as MP for Glasgow Govan at the 1997 general election, becoming the first Muslim MP in the United Kingdom and the first Asian MP elected to represent a Scottish constituency. He was the first MP to swear the Oath of Allegiance on the Qur'an, using the method laid out by the Oaths Act 1978. Sarwar was suspended from holding office within the Labour Party in 1997 when he was charged with electoral offences, but he was acquitted in 1999 and the suspension was lifted.