New Delhi, Apr 24 (IANS): Narendra Modi continues to be the overwhelming first choice of the voters to become Prime Minister staying ahead of his distant rival Rahul Gandhi by leaps and bounds, according to the latest finding of the CVOTER-IANS tracker.

A tracking survey conducted on April 20 showed that Modi was way ahead of Rahul Gandhi by around 35 percentage points as the people's first choice for becoming the Prime Minister.

When asked who is the most suitable candidate to become the Prime Minister in a sample size of 11,838, a 56.43 per cent respondents said Narendra Modi. Rahul Gandhi was a distant second with 22 per cent votes.

Modi has been a clear choice for the Prime Minister well before the poll process began and continued to retain his unchallenged position even till the third round of polling.

The BJP leader's popularity had peaked in the first week of March crossing the 60 per cent mark and he continues to dominate the approval rating charts.

Rahul Gandhi's numbers have remained almost static as he has maintained his position of being a distant second.

No other leader received any significant traction from the voters.

In states like Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, Modi was the first choice of over 70 per cent respondents.

Narendra Modi's popularity peaked on March 6 when 62.3 per cent respondents named him as the first choice to become PM.

On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi's best number was 26.04 per cent on January 1. Since then it has been on a constant decline as his approval ratings have shown no signs of improving till the third phase.