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A theoretical and experimental study on the effect of an electric field on a cylindrical vesicle is presented. Experiments show that a cylindrical vesicle when subjected to an axial electric field, displays an axisymmetric pearling instability (the Rayleigh–Plateau instability) beyond a threshold electric field. Unlike fluid jets, in which electric fields are known to stabilize the Rayleigh–Plateau instability, cylindrical vesicles exhibit dual effects of electric field. The tension required to induce the instability is produced by the electric field. At higher values of field strength however, a stabilizing action of the electric field is seen. This renders the fastest growing wavenumber, km, independent of the electric field at high electric field strength. Theoretical results predict, albeit qualitatively, a weak dependence of km on the electric field. It also explains the substantially higher experimental values of km (around 0.64–1.0) observed in …